XSGCOM: Mirror Image
by Hotpoint
Summary: Crossover between SG1 and XCOM. As Earth fights against two separate extraterrestrial threats the defenders join forces and the tables are turned.
1. Chapter 1

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

_This is a crossover Fic between two radically different organisations that were set up in the late 1990's to deal with an Extra-Terrestial threat to Earth, only here they exist on the same Earth, fighting two separate wars until their paths converge. In an infinite multiverse there's got to be a world on the other side of the Quantum Mirror which isn't worse for humanity right? _

_The SGC speaks softly but in this universe humanity also has the big stick. You may not approve of the methods, the xenophobia or the militarism but if the blood sucking monsters from outer space ever did turn up, wouldn't you want the gung-ho, shoot first and dissect later, alien technology back-engineering wizards of X-COM on hand to even the score and then rewrite the rules of the game?_

_Well assuming they didn't piss-off the wrong aliens and bring ragnarok down upon our heads I mean. Never thought you'd see the universe where Jack O'Neill was the voice of reasoned diplomacy did you? ;-)_

* * *

**-**

**Stargate - Planet PX9-757 – July 2000**

The Jaffa guarding the _Chappa'ai_ raised their staff weapons and charged them, anything could be coming through and they didn't want to meet the fate of the guards who had clearly been caught unawares by the Tau'ri agents who had recently come to this world and sabotaged the vessel that was being constructed here. There was a rumour in the ranks that the Tau'ri had used salvaged _Atoniek_ technology to achieve the feat but nobody knew for sure. In any case the loyal Jaffa warriors would meet any enemy of their God Apophis with courage in their hearts and their staff in their hands as benefits the scions of millennia of martial tradition and service.

The splash-like energy backwash caused by the _Chappa'ai's_ incoming wormhole bought the half dozen Jaffa to full alert. The planetary garrison was smaller now the shipyard was destroyed and the redeployment of troops and weaponry to more important worlds meant they had no Staff-Cannon trained on the gate but nevertheless anything that came through the shimmering event horizon of the gate at less than supersonic speed was going to be in trouble once plasma bolts began to rain down upon it.

It was no man that stepped through the gate but instead a machine of some kind that clattered through the stargate on metal tracks. One of the Jaffa laughed. 'It is one of the Tau'ri reconnaissance devices' he declared, the heart that had been pounding in his chest in anticipation of battle starting to slow its frantic beat immediately. They all knew of the use of such mechanisms by the humans of Earth though none present had set eyes upon one before.

'I have heard that the Tau'ri call them "Malps" or something similar' another Jaffa declared. 'It must mean something in their language though I know not what.'

'They must have sent it to see if we had vacated this world' the Jaffa who had first identified the machine theorised. 'Shall we destroy it?' he asked, aiming his staff.

'It is no threat' a third Jaffa stated. 'We could capture it and offer it to Lord Apophis as a trophy' he suggested. 'It's technology is inferior to that of the Gods but he may reward us for our initiative.'

'You speak wisely' the first Jaffa agreed. 'Come help me see how we can disable its power source. We may need a litter to drag it back to camp but it is not so big' he said putting down his Staff and starting to walk towards the machine which supposedly carried audio and visual recording devices that were undoubtedly sending pictures and sound to the fools that had thrown it away by sending it here. He fought back the urge to yell insults at the machine, better they see the smug impression on his face as he approached.

Part of the machine swung around to point itself at him as he approached. Assuming it was a camera the Jaffa could not help but give it a wave. A split second later some kind of external speaker fitted to the "Malp" device spoke up.

'_Lay down your arms and surrender_' the machine commanded in a slightly distorted electronic tone. '_If you fail to do so immediately you will face lethal force_' it told them.

The Jaffa laughed again. 'You have a better sense of humour than I thought Tau'ri _Gonach_' the closest to the machine replied wondering if they knew enough of the Goa'uld tongue to recognise the foul insult and hoping they did.

'_You were warned, no second chances_' the machine replied and a beam of bright coherent red light lanced out from the part of the device pointing at him and instantly burned a gaping hole right through the Jaffa's chest, vaporising both flesh, breast-plate and the chain-mail armour underneath in a split second.

The first Jaffa was still falling to the ground with an astonished expression on his face when the machine's weapon started to swing swiftly around to engage the next warrior.

They were well trained and had worshipped their Lord for many years, practising for combat every day so that they could serve him to the best of their ability, so the remaining Jaffa got over their shock very rapidly and the first on numerous staff-blasts hit the machine just before it fired again. Unfortunately for the warrior who was promptly cut neatly in half by the now scything laser beam, the plasma merely scorched and slightly pitted the thick armour plate the Tau'ri combat-capable robot carried, and did _not _prevent him ending his days in two separate pieces.

More staff blasts rained in but the machine simply shrugged them off and kept firing. It had originally been designed to withstand considerably more powerful weapons than these and had been subsequently upgraded since then with additional armour. After taking out two more Jaffa in quick succession it starting rumbling down the ramp that led to the stargate, firing on the move as it went, plasma blasts continuing to scorch and pit its metallic surface but doing nothing to stop it.

'We must flee' one of the remaining Jaffa declared.

'Coward' another retorted continuing to fire again and again to no avail. The Tau'ri had no honour to send a device to do the work of a warrior he thought, they must be surely cowards too he decided before the laser burned into him, incinerating both his lower torso and the Goa'uld larvae that nestled within it.

The skirmish, such as it was, lasted barely two minutes, the last of the Jaffa, the youngest, least experienced and battle-hardened shot in the back as he fled, having already cast aside his staff.

One of the _Chappa'ai _guardswas still conscious, and from where he lay bleeding into the dirt from a massive, and only partially cauterised wound, he watched a pair of humans emerge from the gate, sound followed by several more and all carrying what he assumed were weapons though he did not recognise from the pictures he had been shown of captured Tau'ri firearms.

Loyal to the last, unlike his feint-hearted comrade, the Jaffa fought back his pain and tried to raise his staff to shoot at the humans in a last gesture of defiance and piety but one spotted the movement, shouldered his mysterious weapon and fired a less powerful though still deadly version of the laser the machine had used before the Jaffa could get off a shot of his own. The beam struck the Jaffa right between the eyes killing him instantly, the energy boiling his brains as it burned right through his skull on both sides and back out again, lancing through his tight fitting thin metallic skull-cap helmet.

One of the humans surveyed the carnage and nodded his approval. 'I want these corpses back at base for dissection ASAP' he ordered. 'The staff things too, the geeks might find a use for them but they don't look like much to me' he added. 'Alright clear the ramp we've got a jeep coming through any second' he continued, 'I want this ball of rock swept clean of any technology we can salvage and any of the Naquadah shit especially' he said. 'That crap's got real potential boys and girls' he reminded them, 'and someone check if the HWP needs more than a new paintjob' the officer commanded. 'If it's badly damaged send it back and have them send a replacement in case we need the backup' he told the trooper that was headed for the machine. A Heavy Weapon's Platform could give you a very nice edge.

'Don't think much of these Jaffa assholes Sir' one of them observed.

The officer nodded his agreement. 'They've been kicking their asses with MP-5's and the like for years so I'm told' he replied. 'Feudal society with badly designed clumsy weaponry' he noted. 'Christ if they thought those SGC pussies were bad wait until they get used to _us_ coming through the gates' he declared with a grin.

'This one is still breathing' one of the soldiers said loudly, checking a fallen Jaffa.

'Stick a medkit on him and stabilise the poor bastard' the officer ordered. 'Guess one of them doesn't get dissected after all' he said then smiled evilly. 'Just interrogated and maybe _vivisected_ instead' he added with a feral grin.

An injection of stimulant bought the wounded Jaffa around just as a four wheeled vehicle rolled through the gate, this wasn't how the Tau'ri operated, they worked in smaller groups as a rule and were not so… ardently military. 'Who are you?' he gasped at the invader who seemed to be treating his wound.

'Extraterrestrial Combat Unit at your service' the human replied evenly. 'They call us X-COM back home, sorry to tell you this but the _bad_ Tau'ri are loose in the Galaxy now, so if there's a _real_ God you pray to have a quiet word now, because we're going to rip the fake Goa'uld ones a new asshole' he declared.

By the time the X-COM team was done scavenging PX9-757 another thirty-two Jaffa warriors were dead, six were taken alive mostly thanks to being shot in non-vital spots then ganked with a stun-rod and the first one from the skirmish at the gate was sitting in Alien Containment in the European XCOM Base in Poland, where the Stargate recovered from the Pacific had been taken. The Jaffa was heavily bandaged up, though both the wondrous Tau'ri battlefield medical kits and the rejuvenating power of his larval Goa'uld had together prevented and otherwise mortal wound from killing him.

The Jaffa had many questions but to be honest the one he was wondering about _most_ was why exactly the Tau'ri had an unusually buff looking _Asgard_ of all things in the next cell? He thought they were allies?

Meanwhile beyond the walls of the armour-plated, sound-proofed, airtight and utterly infallible prison for captured extra-terrestrials the negotiations between X-COM and the representative of the SGC were starting to draw to a conclusion. Things were going to be done very different at Cheyenne Mountain from now on, the days of the old SG teams were numbered, from now on it would be the newly christened XSGCOM that was going to lead the fight against the Goa'uld threat not that the SGC was particularly happy about it.

The X-COM Troopers slated to be assigned to the _other_ Alien War were fairly upbeat about it, why worry abut the Goa'uld? At worst they might implant you with a symbiote, but at least that was still a lot less scary than being impregnated by a damn Chryssalid and as for the notion of fighting Jaffa instead of Sectoids and their freinds for a few months, well _that _just sounded like a period of badly needed R&R. Most of them them needed some light duty to get over the damn PTSD that was endemic among any of them with more than half a dozen of missions under their belts.

How scary the System Lords were depended largely on whether you were used to fighting _really_ unpleasant aliens. It's all a matter of perspective when you think about it, and if there was only one thing you were allowed to say about the perspective of the average X-COM grunt, it would be "warped".

-

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2000**

'It's not like we had a _choice_' General Hammond told Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, the two sat across from him around the briefing table, 'they already had a Stargate of their own and with the DHD they could override _ours_' he pointed out. 'We either allowed them into the program or we ran the risk of having _them_ in the driving seat with no prospect of acting as a moderating influence.'

O'Neill crossed his arms. 'With all due respect Sir from what I can see of their methods it's going to be like we recruited the NID guys that went around the Galaxy stealing technology instead of putting them in the stockade where they belonged' he opined.

'Which is _precisely_ why we need to be there with them, so they don't alienate our existing allies or worse actually _increase_ our number of enemies blundering about like amateurs' Hammond responded. 'I assume you've read the files they provided' he asked, 'or at least the summary pages' he added looking at O'Neill.

Carter shook her head in amazement just thinking about it. 'Casualty rates of well over fifty percent per mission' she said incredulously. 'And the average is only _that_ low now because of the laser weapons they've been using recently' she continued. 'For the first few months of last year they often took _seventy-five_ percent losses from a single mission, she said. 'I doubt any other military organisation in history has ever sustained losses that high as a matter of course.'

'Guess they didn't have the right personnel' O'Neill surmised.

Carter looked at him. 'X-COM have access to a far wider recruitment base than we do' she pointed out. 'They've got the Special-Forces from over a dozen different countries to choose from and they took the very best they could find' she continued. 'If you compared our SG Teams with X-COM, half of our people wouldn't even get past the first stage of being _considered_ to join them, their required standards are too high' she told him, tapping the file in front of her. 'Just to get your foot in the door you have to be the elite _of_ the elite.'

Hammond nodded. 'United States Military personnel on secondment _do_ in fact make up a fair sized portion of X-COM, which made it easier for me to establish a line of communication with them over the last week or so than it might have been otherwise, and everything I've heard bear's out Major Carter's analysis' he concurred, 'but even more than that, the losses they take in combat acts like some kind of sick process of Darwinian selection' he continued. 'Only the best, and maybe the luckiest, of them last through enough missions to fully adapt to the nature of the high-intensity combat they are involved in on a regular basis' he said. 'If you can't run like an Olympic sprinter, shoot like Annie Oakley and have reaction times like a rattlesnake you _die_, it's as simple as that, I'm exaggerating but not by as much as I wish I was' he added. 'I couldn't imagine being in a position where I regular sent men on missions where their was a better than even chance of them not coming back but that's _normal_ for these people.'

'Our problem is' Carter interjected, 'and to continue General Hammond's analogy' she continued, 'they've _evolved_ a shoot-first and dissect later mentality, which is fine for the war they've been fighting until now, but it could be disastrously counterproductive if they play it the same way with us' she said. 'This is especially true as regards the Asgard, because like it or not, it's pretty inconceivable that these "Sectoids" they've been fighting aren't related to our little grey friends, despite the huge gulf in their respective modus operandi.'

O'Neill frowned. 'I can't see the Asgard doing some of the stuff that I've read about in the files and by the way the photographs clipped to the after-action reports ruined my lunch' he declared. 'Abductions? Mutilations? Does that _sound_ like Thor's people to you?' he asked rhetorically. 'It sounds more like the X-Files' he added.

'Mulder and Scully never had a Grey locked up in a cell to show people when they asked for proof' Carter replied wryly. 'X-COM provided detailed autopsy results, DNA and blood samples plus video recordings of Sectoids in captivity' she pointed out. 'Other than the fact they look more generally muscular than any Asgard we've encountered before, physically overall they appear to be the same species.'

O'Neill snorted. 'So who are they?' he asked. 'Asgard body-builders that overdid the steroids and got over-aggressive like the guys who take too much testosterone?' he asked sardonically.

Carter chuckled as she got the mental image of Thor pumping iron. 'They're still noticeably weaker than the average human' she noted. 'Given the size and weight of the weapons these things carry maybe they needed to bulk up to use them effectively?' she suggested. 'A regular Asgard would make for a lousy grunt.'

'But even if they wanted to do this stuff why would they need to bother with the way they've been doing it?' O'Neill asked. 'Asgard ships could beam anything they wanted right off the planet from orbit and we'd never know they were there' he said.

O'Neill took a sip from the glass of water in front of him. 'These guys land in ships and drag people away, I mean other than the weaponry they're not even at the technological level of the damn _Goa'uld_ as far as I can tell' he continued. 'I mean if they _were_ Asgard what's the chances you could tag one of their ships with a couple of missiles? Even nuclear ones?' he asked. 'We couldn't even knock down a Ha'tak with a thousand megaton warhead because of the shields, so how the crap is X-COM splashing them with these "Avalanche's"?' he queried. 'They're just a glorified Phoenix Missile with a low kiloton yield proximity fused warhead slapped to the front' he noted tapping one of the pieces of paper scattered across the table.

'It's a mystery' General Hammond agreed. 'We're contacting the Asgard and hopefully they can show up with all the answers, but until then there are other issues to consider as well' he said. 'Firstly the integration of transferred X-COM personnel into the existing SGC structure' he began. 'They're pushing hard for one or two of their people on SG1.'

'No chance' O'Neill responded in a flash. 'We're already fully staffed Sir' he pointed out.

'It's not written in stone that an SG Team only has four members Colonel' Hammond replied evenly.

O'Neill grimaced. 'Couldn't you give them their own teams?' he asked. 'I bet they'd _love_ that.'

'I'm sure they would but when a dozen alien battlecruisers turn up in orbit demanding the heads of the people that just shot up their planet we _wouldn't_ love it' Hammond told him. 'I want them kept on a leash so we don't end up with a noose around our necks.'

'What about Teal'c?' Carter asked. 'I hope I'm not being harsh but these people are firmly in the camp that says if it's not human it ends up on an autopsy table or being tied down and having electrodes inserted into uncomfortable places' she said. 'I'll be fair if I had their track record on meeting aliens I'd be leaning towards xenophobia myself but wouldn't we be better keeping them away from Teal'c?' she suggested.

'Good point Major' O'Neill agreed. 'Could be a clash there, wouldn't want to risk any additional tension between us and them' he added. Hopefully this would ensure he didn't have to put up with someone else on his team.

General Hammond looked thoughtful. 'I agree' he said. 'I guess the only choice is to pull Teal'c from SG1 and hand him over to X-COM to be placed in confinement because that's what they're asking for.'

O'Neill's jaw dropped. 'You've _got_ to be kidding George?' he exclaimed.

'The only way Teal'c stays out of a cell is if he's on SG1 and we are going to have someone from X-COM on the team too' Hammond replied. 'It's out of my hands' he said. 'I pulled all the strings I could to keep him out of a room with bars on the window but if he's on the loose, which is how _they_ see it, they want one of their people alongside to shoot him if they think it becomes necessary.'

'So after everything Teal'c has done for us, for this _planet_' O'Neill replied, 'we'd allow these rookies to lock him up and throw away the key unless they've always got someone around to blow his brains out?'

Hammond nodded. 'That's about it' he confirmed with a shrug. 'Oh and there's other news I received just before you arrived' he added. 'Technically the SGC is seconded to X-COM so the field personnel like yourself are being put on the same salary as them, it was considered likely to cause further strife between the teams if we didn't. The Pentagon is picking up the tab and it's not coming out of my budget I'm glad to say.'

'Don't they pay the same to all ranks or something?' O'Neill asked with a wince. As a Colonel he was bound to get screwed here even if the majority of SG Team members might get a raise.

Hammond sighed. 'X-COM pay their combat soldiers twenty thousand dollars a month before deductions, and by international agreement those don't include income tax' he said. 'You'll be on a _lot_ more than I am' he said with a mild hint of resentment in his voice. 'Actually I checked and you'll be making more than any of the Joint Chiefs, or the Vice-President for that matter.'

O'Neill blinked. 'Twenty thousand a _month_' he repeated. 'Why didn't anybody tell me about this before?' he asked. 'I'd have requested a transfer as soon as they started up.'

'Until recently the SGC and X-COM didn't even know each other even existed' Carter pointed out. 'Only a few people knew about both organisations which is why we never got to share technology before. Sometimes you can take secrecy too far' she opined.

'And it just had to be the NID that was one of the groups that knew about both' O'Neill said sadly. 'Not that I'm surprised given all the nasty black ops they've got a hand in' he continued. 'Finding out Maybourne had gone to X-COM once he discovered they'd salvaged the gate didn't shock me one little bit' he said. 'Filled in all the blanks and then acted as an intermediary between them and his Russian KGB buddies when they negotiated for the DHD, goddamn typical.'

'So you _did_ read all the files?' Carter asked in surprise.

'Slow night on TV' O'Neill replied, actually he wasn't as averse to paperwork and the like as he made out to be, just as he wasn't as uneducated as he pretended sometimes also. If you had the reputation of not dealing with reports or memo's properly, people tended to send you less to deal with, which was all to the good, as was having people underestimating you because you came across like you weren't necessarily the sharpest knife in the drawer. In reality he had a razor edge and was always ready to draw it across an unsuspecting throat if the ideal opportunity to do arose, which it did pretty often in this line of work.

Carter shrugged, that made sense she thought then frowned. 'What about Daniel?' she asked. 'He's not military so I guess he's not included in the new pay deal?' she asked.

'Fortunately for Doctor Jackson no he's not' Hammond replied with a wry smile on his face.

'Fortunately?' O'Neill queried suspiciously.

The General smiled. 'As a civilian, X-COM are listing him as a member of their science personnel' he said. 'That pays _thirty_ thousand a month, tax free as before' he told them. 'So I'm _not_ the only one here getting paid less as a nominal superior than my staff is.'

This time Carter blinked. 'If I resigned my commission how long would it be before I got the extra money?' she asked eventually. If nothing else she had just discovered why X-COM seemed to have even better R&D people than the SGC and it wasn't just because they had a wider recruitment base to work with.

-

**X-COM BASE 2 (North America) – Earth – August 2000**

The Marines of SG3 were led from the elevator through the base corridors straight to one of the aircraft hangers which was currently void of the Skyranger VSTOL transport aircraft that normally lived there. The craft was currently sitting on a landing strip at Area 51, it had transported some of the bases science and engineering teams there so they could check out the stockpile of alien hardware the SGC had been accumulating over the last few years in the hopes they could bring some of their reverse-engineering magic to bare. X-COM lived by the truth that knowledge was power, and sometimes more importantly it was _firepower_.

The team had been chosen by General Hammond to go check out the X-COM hardware that others had been raving about before he approved its use by the SGC, and they were more than happy to do so, though they found it hard to believe some of the stuff they had been told during the trip from Cheyenne Mountain.

'So you're the SGC blokes?' a trooper with a British accent wearing the standard X-COM jumpsuit and sergeants stripes asked, looking them up and down. 'Come here to see the toys' he added then grinned. 'Well at least they sent Marines' he said, 'could have been worse I suppose' he declared and stuck out his hand. 'Kevin Nash formerly of Her Majesties Royal Marines Special Boat Service and now seconded from Special Forces to X-COM, or as we like to think of it, _very_ Special Forces' he said shaking their hands. 'Come along lads you'll like these' he promised heading for a bench that had been set up and which now held a number of different weapons and other indeterminate items.

Major Wade the commander of SG3 looked over the hardware. 'These the Lasers?' he asked pointed at a bulky looking pistol and a large boxy looking rifle. It had been painted from the looks of it, and then subjected to harsh treatment so that in some places the paint had flaked off revealing what looked like a shell of red plastic underneath. Why the hell would anyone make it _red_, he wondered? Well at least someone else, probably a grunt with more brains than the designer, had seen fit to change it to a more tactically useful colour.

'L2-A1 Hades Laser Rifle' the XCOM Sergeant nodded reaching down to pick it up. 'couple of pounds heavier than an ordinary assault rifle like the M16A2 or G-36 but you more than make up for it in the weight of ammunition you don't have to carry.'

'How many shots, or how much charge does it hold I mean?' Wade asked, not being sure what the correct terminology was.

'Unlimited' the British Sergeant told him in a serious tone then after a couple of seconds of incredulous looks he grinned again. 'No not really, but it seems like that' he told them. 'It's around two-hundred and seventy-five to three hundred shots off a full charge, you just plug them in after a mission to power them up again, most of the casing is taken up by the power-pack.'

'But what if you run out of… charge… in the middle of a firefight?' Wade queried.

'How many magazines do you carry for your M16A2 when you go off on a mission?' the Sergeant responded. 'More than ten?' he asked rhetorically. 'The L2-A1 carries the equivalent of that many shots and it's a fuck load more dangerous with each one Sir trust me' he said. 'Leading the target is a piece of piss with a laser, you don't really need to' he told them. 'It'll burn through armour like a hot knife through butter which would stop a tungsten-cored 7.62mm armour-piercer dead in its tracks, and as for aiming it's just point and shoot, no bullet-drop in flight to worry about' he continued. 'There's not even any recoil, so you can fire a three shot burst and they all end up in exactly the same place as long as you've got a steady hand.'

Major Wade looked at the weapon again, more appreciatively this time. 'Are you on commission for selling these things Sergeant?' he asked. 'Because that's the best sales pitch I've ever heard' he told him seriously.

'If we were a company Sir _I'd_ buy shares in us' the sergeant replied with a smile. 'Once we start selling these on the open market every other weapons manufacturer on the planet is going out of business' he declared. 'Even the L1-A2 Laser Pistol there is beyond anything I could have hoped for before I started this job, it's just a fucking shame the bug gear is even better' he added regretfully.

'Bug?' Wade queried.

'Sectoids' Nash explained. 'I hear that you call them the Asgard, good name because they'd _better_ be watching their little grey arses when we get the new ships off the drawing board.'

'Jury's out on whether they're the same race' Major Wade advised him. They looked very much alike he had to admit, but the differences in technology and behaviour were so great as to render that seem trivial as far as most of the SGC was concerned.

'I don't believe much in coincidences Sir, but they just pay me to slot bugs and I leave the politics to the people higher up the chain' the sergeant told him. 'But I'll tell you straight that if the Commander decides we're going to war with these Asgard, then there's not a Trooper or Pilot in X-COM that won't follow' he vowed.

'Sergeant they're more powerful that you can imagine' Wade told him, trying not to sound condescending. 'Earth is barely holding it's own against people that the Asgard think are _third-raters_. You don't know just how outclassed we truly are compared to the rest of the universe' the Marine stated honestly.

'It's only a matter of time Major' the sergeant replied confidently, Wade thought it was hubris but made no comment. 'Right' the sergeant began, changing the subject, 'we've set up targets on the other side of the hanger for you to have a go at with the Lasers, no need to worry about ricochets of course' he said. 'Those metal plates are equivalent to the armour the Jaffa wear so prepare to see why these Goa'uld you've been fighting are going to start waking up at night in a cold sweat every time they dream of the day they decided to fuck with the human race' he declared haughtily. 'Oh yeah, the guys over in Europe tried out one of those Staff-Weapons on our new armour, no penetration but just don't get hit too many times in the same place because they say repeated blasts start to crystallise the alloy whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.'

'Any other secret weapons?' Major Wade asked curiously.

'Well the Motion Scanners are bloody high-tech, I ain't got a clue how they work, but we don't use them too often in the field anyway' Nash replied. 'The Medi-Kits are the dogs bollocks though, saved my arse more than once when I was leaking like a sieve' Nash replied. 'What we're all waiting for in the ground-pounders is when they get plasma-guns figured out so we can even things up with the bugs but I hear that's on hold while the egg-heads see what we can do with Goa'uld gear. They're supposed to be raving about something called a Zatty-nickle.'

'Zat'nik'tel' the Major corrected him. 'We call them Zat guns, only decent weapon the Jaffa carry, at least it's the only one _we_ ever bother to use.'

'Well whatever you call it they say it'll make retrieving live aliens a lot easier and it might even be a solution to those crab bastards' the X-COM man said, an involuntary shudder running through his body just thinking about them.

Wade looked at him. 'Crab bastards?' he queried.

'Chryssalids' the Sergeant explained, 'be grateful you've never met one, I had to shoot a mate who got impregnated with an incendiary round before he turned into one himself' he said. 'Runs at better than forty miles an hour, claws that'll rip through a HWP and they always look like they're grinning' he continued. 'Makes your skin crawl it does. We only ever got one of them alive, they played the tape of the science team cutting it up when it was still breathing to us in the mess hall later that week, we were _cheering_, swear to god' he said raising his right hand. 'So do you want me to show you how the Hades works then Sir?' he asked. 'There's not much to it, no moving parts so nothing to strip down and clean, just an on/off switch, a fire-selector and a trigger' he said. 'It's the Infantryman's dream' he said then smiled, 'and every extra-terrestrial wanker's nightmare' he added.

After the first dozen shot's with the L2-A1 Hades the whole of SG3 would have given their right nut to take them back with them to the SGC. Fortunately for them X-COM only accepted cold-hard cash and offered them for $36,900 apiece, well they did have overheads after all and it wasn't like they were a charity or anything. They did offer a bulk discount on the armour however, $50,000 each and they already came with the new XSGCOM badge painted on. Well you've got to brand the product right?

-

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_If you're unfamiliar with X-COM then I cannot express too strongly that you should get hold of the game, not only is it one of the best ever made you won't follow the story very well otherwise :-p_

_The X-COM and SG1 timelines converge here in roughly the middle of 2000, at which point I have X-COM using Laser Weaponry and Personal Armour but not yet Plasma Weapons or ships developed from back-engineered Alien Tech (though the Firestorm is on the drawing board)._

_For SG1 it's around the time of the Season 4 episode Watergate, though here it was X-COM that retrieved the gate not the Russians. More background story as to what bought them to this point will follow in later chapters._

_If you're a reader of my Buffy Compelled Series Fanfic don't worry I'm not stopping that one, I'm just having some fun with this idea when I get a free moment. It's simply an amusing little notion (at least to me it is). I wasted many, many hours on X-COM: UFO Defense/ UFO: Enemy Unknown in the nineties and I still load it up sometimes now well over a decade later. _


	2. Chapter 2

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

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**Hawaii – Earth – August 2000**

Major Cameron Mitchell slowly started to push the throttle up as soon as he cleared land, he didn't want to leave a sonic boom behind to ruin the surfing going on down there but once he was out over the Pacific it was time to have some fun. As the twin pulse detonation engines started to strut their stuff he felt himself pushed back hard in his seat and the mach meter dial being projected onto the Head Up Display in front of him started spinning upwards fast. He could have altered the display to give him a digital readout instead but he liked watching those dials spin as the fighter effortlessly went through the speed of sound and kept accelerating smoothly towards Mach 2 and beyond.

The guys back at base just called it an Interceptor, which was its function in a nutshell, but technically it was an XF-701 _Sigrdrífa_, and it was named for its spiritual ancestor the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber, a Nineteen-Sixties design for a very high speed bomber that could maintain high supersonic speeds for an unusually long time because of a little trick it had of actually riding its own supersonic shockwave almost like a goddamn surfboard, the beach bums being left far behind would have appreciated the technique. Once past the sound barrier the last third of each delta wing folded downwards to an angle of 65 degrees to best catch the wave and it was surf's up dude as many an XF-701 Pilot was known to joke, even the ones _not_ based in Hawaii.

When the UFO's started turning up in '98 the various airforces that tried to catch them had run into one major stumbling block, the damn saucers were just too damn fast. The Japanese Kiryu-Kai flying F-15J's never got close and even the Russians found that their notably faster fighters, the MiG-25's and 31's, couldn't be vectored in quickly enough, they had the sprint speed but not the endurance to get where they needed to be before the unwelcome visitors made themselves scarce.

Earth needed a fighter that could get up to beyond Mach 3.2 and stay there, so they dusted off the 1960's Valkyrie program, made a smaller scale copy and then as the piece de resistance stuck on two pulse-detonation engines that had come from the same stable as the Hypersonic Aurora Spy-Plane program. The result was a machine that could really haul-ass, and thanks to avionics, radar and electronics taken from aerospace firms all over the world, plus a decent weapons load, it could kick it too.

Mitchell headed towards his target as the XF-701 Sigrdrífa, named for one of the Valkyrie's of myth, and which literally meant "Victory Bringer", passed through Mach 3 and he was soon tearing across the sky going a thousand miles an hour faster than a speeding bullet. He maintained radio silence and had his own radar shut down, being vectored towards his target by X-COM's base dug in up on Mauna Loa, the fighter was shielded against electronic emissions, and the particularly vicious ECM they used, but he certainly didn't want to loudly advertise his presence until he was coming up on firing range.

Mitchell began humming a tune, this was his fifth interception which meant if the saucer went down instead of him, he was about to become the third guy to make ace shooting down alien spaceships. Not that he could boast about it anywhere but at the bar back at base, but he was itching to get that tiny saucer number five painted just below his canopy.

He was carrying a full war load, six of the AIM-54X Avalanche Missiles, an upgraded and modified version of the venerable Phoenix which sacrificed some of the range for greater speed and a larger warhead, usually a five kiloton yield nuclear device but this time the first two off the rails would be something special.

His father had been a test pilot but Dad had never got to try out something this special Mitchell thought as he approached the target, even with the shielded electronics and the heavy use of radar-absorbent-material in the airframe the bugs were bound to pick him up soon.

'Crap' he swore as the threat warning box indicated that the saucer had picked him up. There was no point in trying to be sneaky now, once they got a lock on you it stayed locked, so Mitchell powered up his radar, an AN/APG-79 from the F-22 program and started hunting.

As a fighter pilot going after them, the best thing you could say about the bugs was that, unless you ran into their very biggest ships, the Avalanche outranged their Plasma Beams. A couple of other X-COM fighter-jocks had found out the hard way about the reach of those big bastards and since then they only ever tried to tackle them on the ground, though that of course was hard on the poor bloody infantry instead. This thing looked to be one of their mediums, you could usually reckon to need several nearby Avalanche detonations to bring those down, and after the first couple they would typically throttle up and outrun your sorry ass which kinda sucked after you went to so much effort to fly over and offer them an extremely warm welcome to planet Earth. Hopefully this time was going to be very different, they wouldn't be getting the chance to respond to the first howdy-do's, it would be a done-deal with the first handshake.

Turning on his telemetry transmitter, so that the boys watching with interest back home could watch the action, Mitchell waited until he was a couple of nautical miles inside the maximum range on his AIM-54X's and tried for a lock.

Their ECM and ECCM was good, but X-COM had taken apart a couple of the units stripped from UFO's captured on the ground and knew how to avoid them breaking the lock like they used to at first.

'Lock and tone' Mitchell said to nobody but himself. 'Fox-Three' he added and launched the first two Avalanche Missiles from the rails which were partially recessed into the wings to reduce aerodynamic drag. The twin missiles tore off ahead of the Interceptor riding a trail of fire from their rocket engines, hurtling up to beyond Mach 5 and rapidly closing the gap with the alien ship.

'If you're listening to this on the charred remains of my black box flight recorder the geeks got the minimum safe distance wrong' Mitchell observed wryly as he tracked both missiles and target on his radar. The aliens didn't seem to have true stealth but rather an active cancellation system that left a lot to be desired because you could still track them even if only intermittently sometimes.

The UFO, one of the types X-COM had christened an "Abductor", because of it's primary and unsettling function, was just starting to accelerate away when the two missiles arrived within the range set for their proximity fuses and simultaneously detonated roughly eight miles above the Pacific and approximately three hundred and fifty miles East of the Hawaiian Islands.

X-COM had never used Naquadah enhanced warheads before but they instantly became huge fans when the Avalanches, their nuclear yields increase by well over an order of magnitude by only a few kilos of the material, promptly enveloped the alien craft in a thermonuclear fireball that was visible almost all the way back to Hawaii and which basically turned the thing to plasma in a nanosecond.

Extremely glad they had advised him to steer away, run like hell and keep his eyes squeezed firmly shut under a pair of aviator sunglasses Cameron Mitchell wondered if it still counted as a kill if there wasn't really any physical evidence left that the target had ever actually existed in the first place? He also decided to advise them that a full load of six Naquadah enhanced AIM-54X's was probably overkill and they might as well stick on one of the new Laser Cannons as a backup instead.

Yup, he was definitely glad he took the X-COM job when they offered it to him instead of quitting the Airforce, he decided. Well what were the chances he was going to be offered any other job remotely as cool as this one in the future if he had turned them down?

Shooting down ships crewed by a race everyone was starting to call the Asgard with a fighter named for a figure from Norse Myth was a damn fine notion too he decided, as he headed back to base wondering if a victory roll over the airfield would be too much?

-

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2000**

Commander Russell Sharp, more usually addressed as Russ or "Sir", noted to himself as he pounded his way along yet another corridor, that when you've seen one underground bunker you've seen them all. He had been met at the elevator by a USAF Master Sergeant named Harriman and with two of his Troopers in tow he was being led through the SGC Complex which basically seemed to be a greatly expanded twin of one of their own bases albeit with a lot of US as opposed to UN insignia and none of the ever-present variations on the X-COM logo emblazoned on personnel and equipment.

Wearing their grey X-COM jumpsuits, sleeves rolled up as always, a holstered laser pistol at their side and topped with a black beret the three newcomers stood out from the US personnel and they were getting assorted looks from those they passed in the corridors. Many seemed resentful of their presence, they were foreign interlopers in a United States military operation, others were merely curious having heard so much in the last few weeks about the _other_ people out there keeping Earth safe from the alien threat but the most impressive glare came from a large black guy with a gold emblem fixed to his forehead. Sharp knew who he was of course, there was only one Jaffa in the SGC, but the Commander pointedly ignored him whereas one of his Troopers glared right back and meaningfully tapped his holster, goddamn extra-terrestrial asshole the Trooper thought as Teal'c looked them over dismissively.

'First time in the mountain Sir?' Harriman asked, as they finally approached their destination, General Hammond's office.

'Visited before back when I was still in the Canadian Military' Sharp replied. 'Didn't get to see these levels though Sergeant' he added. 'Just NORAD upstairs.'

'Well no Sir, we're very need-to-know here at the SGC' he said. 'Top secret clearance just doesn't cut it' the Sergeant noted, as they arrived at the door and knocked.

'Come in' a voice responded from within the office and Harriman opened the door.

'Commander Russell Sharp Sir' Walter introduced the X-COM officer as General Hammond rose from his chair holding out his hand which Sharp took in his own as he entered the room.

'Russ' the X-COM Commander advised the General in charge of the SGC as they shook hands.

'George Hammond' the General responded. 'I'm not sure how our ranks match up' he admitted. 'Which one is supposed to call the other one Sir?' he asked with a grin.

'Damned if I know George' Sharp replied. 'I'll skip it if you will' he offered reaching up to remove his black beret which held his rank insignia, a human skull with an X underneath it cast as a brass badge. The same insignia graced his shoulder patches under both the UN Flag and the standard X-COM logo.

'Deal' Hammond agreed readily. For one thing he was fairly sure that technically at least the Commander outranked him even if he was at least ten years younger and would most likely have never have been promoted up that high by now in an organisation that wasn't quite as fluid as X-COM. Promotion was fairly easy in their job, the people higher up kept getting killed in action, freeing up the ladder.

Commander Sharp turned to the USAF non-com. 'Master Sergeant can you show my two Troopers standing out their in the corridor to the canteen?' he requested. 'We've been stuck in the back of a Skyranger for an hour and a half and it's not designed for a comfortable trip, I'd bet they'd sell their sidearms for a cup of coffee.'

'That's a deal too' Hammond joked. 'I've seen what you're charging for them normally' he interjected. 'Walter escort them to the Canteen and give them a guided tour of the gate room afterwards' he told the Master Sergeant, might as well be hospitable to them he thought, even if he'd rather they weren't moving onto his turf. 'Take a seat' he offered, sitting back down himself as Sharp took him up on the offer, having to shuffle slightly because his oversized L1-A2 Laser Pistol got in the way at first, its holster hanging up on the arm rest.

Sharp smiled as he made himself comfortable. 'You should have seen what Dwoskin our bean-counter _wanted_ to charge for the gear' he responded. 'He nearly had a fit when he found out we were discounting the body-armour, we don't have your budget and we needed the additional funds for expanding our R&D into Goa'uld tech' he explained. 'Be fair, our stuff is more than worth the money' he added.

'According to the glowing report I received from SG3 it is' Hammond agreed as Walter made himself scare and closed the door. 'You didn't brainwash them or anything did you because I've never seen four grown marines act like my grandchildren wheedling for a present before.'

The Commander chuckled. 'Sorry but we haven't figured out how the bugs do the mind thing yet' he replied. 'If we had we would have circumvented them and probably put the whammy on you instead' he joked.

Hammond frowned. 'So they can really get into your head' he asked. 'These Sectoids I mean?'

Sharp nodded. 'Only the ones we think are officers' he replied. 'The ordinary grunts don't seem to be able to do it' he continued. 'We had a couple of guys put under direct control by the bastards on a mission over in South Africa only last week, some seem more susceptible than others to it' he explained. 'I've felt it myself, one tried to panic me, I felt it tingle in my head then I got this feeling of, well pretty much indescribable dread.'

Hammond's eyebrows raised. 'What did you do?' he asked.

'Blew the little fuckers brains out, felt better immediately' Sharp replied with a grin, which he soon wiped from his face. 'Other guys have freaked out completely, dropped their weapon, and like I said some get taken over' he told the General. 'We try and stun them but we've had to take our own people out sometimes before they shoot one of their own team.'

'We've never encountered that kind of…' Hammond began, 'what do you call it?' he asked.

'Psionic' Sharp answered.

'Right' Hammond noted, 'any such Psionic power from the Asgard' he told him. 'Their technology seems fairly close to magical sometimes, but mind control? No that doesn't sound like the little grey men we know.'

'Like I said, some can do it, some can't' the Commander responded. 'Maybe the one's you've met before are from the former group?' he suggested.

'We prefer not to believe they're in the same group as your Sectoids period' Hammond told him flatly.

'I'd like to think so too' Sharp told him, 'Aliens _not_ try to abduct, mutilate and kill you seems a nice novelty to me, but until we get proof we're assuming they're the same people and preparing accordingly.'

'Preparing how?' Hammond queried.

'That's largely classified but let's just say those Goa'uld-Busters you tried out once are firecrackers compared to some of the hardware we've got on the drawing board' Sharp told him.

'I think you're badly underestimating the Asgard' Hammond told him. 'These are the people the Goa'uld have been too scared to cross for thousands of years.'

'I've fought Jaffa a couple of times, seen Goa'uld weaponry in action' Sharp responded. 'In less than ten years they won't just be _scared_ of us they'll be facing _extinction_' he declared in a tone of voice that said that wasn't just hyperbole as far as he was concerned. 'If we can beat the Sectoids back, and put a few hundred X-COM platoons through the gate, then we'll show the Galaxy that anybody who thinks Earth is a soft target is badly deluded' he said. 'And maybe burnt, bleeding or irradiated for good measure' he added.

'Part of the SGC mandate is exploration' Hammond told him. 'We don't have your purely military outlook and for all my years in the service that's how I like it' he continued. 'There's a lot of archaeologists, botanists, astronomers and others on my staff I hope you don't think that the mountain is going to suddenly become the staging area for some kind of Manifest Destiny galactic takeover attempt.'

Commander Sharp chuckled. 'Nah we're planning to use the other gate for that stuff where you bleeding-heart liberal pacifists can't interfere' he responded wryly. 'We're a UN operation, do you know how difficult it is to get things authorised for us sometimes?' he asked rhetorically. 'The Interstellar Conquest idea is going to be stuck at the committee stage for _years_ and _then_ it'll have to be referred back for amendments' he joked. 'Defending the planet and retrieving technology to enable us to do so is all X-COM is about' he added seriously.

'We had problem with people retrieving technology before' General Hammond said meaningfully.

'I read the reports, NID types stealing from advanced cultures' Sharp replied. 'We don't steal from allies, or potential allies' he said. 'If it's _enemy_ equipment we take anything not bolted down and bring bolt-cutters just in case, but you have to shoot at us before we loot from you, that's how the politicians want it so like a good soldier that's what I'll do' he said. 'Okay I'll admit we're not going to play as nice as you do, but that's because we haven't had it as easy as you, and I'll tell you straight George from X-COM's perspective you people are too much speak softly and not enough big stick' he opined.

'Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far' Hammond quoted.

'Thousands of light years so the guys with the high IQ's tell me' Sharp replied with a gentle smile. 'Look I'm not stupid' he said, 'I know you don't want us here, 'but when the time comes that Earth needs that big stick rammed up someone's ass, trust me you'll see us in a new light. We're not amiable, half my troopers are downright surly and a good chunk of what's left might seem borderline psychotic to outsiders' he continued. 'We're cynical, fatalistic and we're not _remotely_ subtle, but we are very good at our jobs because the one's that aren't are all dead by the third mission.'

Hammond nodded. 'How many have you lost?' he asked.

'I don't keep count' Sharp replied evenly. 'I've tagged twenty-seven aliens though, not including Jaffa, which makes me a decent scorer, and that's the only thing we try to remember in my unit, we honour the fallen by fucking-up ET's plans at every damn opportunity, we're saving the mourning and the grieving until the hangovers fade after victory day.'

'That's no way to live Commander' Hammond told him.

'I'm on borrowed time General' Sharp replied with a wry smile. 'We all are in X-COM, one day the plasma with my name on it is going to send me to the great beyond and I just want to take plenty of the bastards along with me' he said. 'You know before they offered me this job I spent half my time teaching X-COM recruits the lessons to be learned from my boundless wisdom' he told him, 'I'm an old hand and I've only been doing this less than a year' he noted. 'Look I'll lay this out on the straight and level, I'm not going to pull rank unless I have to, but if I think I'm right I _will_ countermand your orders and do things the X-COM way because I _know_ it works and you'll have to convince me that your way does too' he told Hammond honestly. 'In reality it's still going to be your base because in X-COM everyone fights from recruit all the way up to Commander so I'll be in the field a lot if that cheers you up.'

Hammond smiled. 'I'd be happier with _me_ in the field and you stuck here' but the USAF doesn't like having people over the rank of Colonel getting regularly caught up in firefights' he said.

'Get a transfer' Commander Sharp told him, 'for us it's expected' he said.

'I'll talk to the wife' Hammond joked.

'Mention the pay but not the mortality rate' Sharp advised deadpan, but fighting back a grin.

General Hammond opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a file. 'One thing I do want to mention before we see about you're people becoming established is SG1' he said, opening it. 'They're my best people, practically legendary around here, and I think it would be a fatal mistake if you tried to interfere with the way they do things.'

'As a gesture of good faith we're reducing the personnel we're adding to the unit to one' the Commander replied. 'They'll be under Colonel O'Neill's command, and other than a standing order to watch the Jaffa turncoat like a hawk they'll simply be another member of the team' he said.

Hammond nodded. 'Teal'c won't react well to the situation' he said.

'Like I could give a crap' Sharp replied frankly. 'I've already chosen the girl for the job, she's a damn fine soldier with plenty of brains and more balls than half the men in X-COM which is saying something because two big brass ones is regulation issue along with the scruffy jumpsuit' he joked.

'A woman?' Hammond queried in surprise.

'We've got a higher percentage of women in the field than you do' Sharp told him. 'They tend to live longer than the men which helps, more likely to listen to advice, and not think they know everything before they've ever seen a plasma bolt in anger, is my guess' he explained. 'Rank of Sergeant so no chain-of-command friction with Major Carter either, unless it's some female thing, but I can't be held accountable for that' he said. 'She was on course for a field promotion any time soon, more than enough kills for even the die-hard misogynists to take her seriously.'

'And she'll kill Teal'c if she thinks he's switching sides again?' Hammond asked.

'In a heartbeat' Sharp replied. 'She's X-COM to the core.'

General Hammond sighed. He was already starting to miss the good old days when the only thing he had to worry about was Goa'uld _Ha'tak's_ bombing him from orbit.

-

**Area 51 – Earth – August 2000**

Major Samantha Carter couldn't quite figure out why, but for some reason, and after less than a day of knowing him, the face of Area 51's leading expert on Naquadah and the Stargate program was the one she would most like to punch on the nose of any on the planet, and probably a good proportion of the worlds of the Goa'uld System Lords for that matter.

Fortunately he was currently loudly arguing with one of the R&D guys X-COM had sent over, as opposed to insulting _her_ intellect or making cringingly bad passes at her, which meant that free from the distraction that was Rodney McKay she could continue to monitor the power readings coming off the Elerium material being analysed in the test chamber on one of the computer terminals scattered around. The room was full of scientists from both Area 51 and various X-COM bases and they were all engaged in animated discussions about the various alien technologies they had encountered and studied. The few non-scientists present, including an almost catatonically bored Colonel Jack O'Neill, were propping up the refreshment table instead.

Eventually the X-COM guy threw up his hands and turned his back on McKay and stomped away muttering something in a language she couldn't understand as he headed in her direction, though the meaning was pretty clear from both the expression on his face and the exasperated tone of his voice. Apparently McKay's manner didn't go down well other people too, a less than revelatory discovery as far as Carter was concerned.

'How do you work with that man?' the X-COM scientist asked Carter, moving slightly to one side so he could see the results coming up on the screen she was looking at.

'I don't, we only met yesterday, I work out of Cheyenne Mountain not Area 51' Carter replied. 'He's really annoying, and condescending… and annoying' she stated.

'The man had the temerity to try and correct me on the ideal crystalline structure of Elerium' the X-COM scientist said, gritting his teeth. 'He did not even know it _existed_ until recently, the team I'm on has already built working test-model engines powered by the material' he told her.

'His confidence in the notion that _his_ theories are facts is unshakable' Carter agreed. 'Samantha Carter SGC' she introduced herself, holding out a hand.

'Radek Zelenka X-COM Science Division' he replied shaking the proffered hand.

'Your English is very good' Sam told him, 'better than my… where are you from?' she asked, slightly embarrassed by the admission.

'Czech Republic' he told her. 'Do not worry you could not place the accent' he said. 'To us, you Americans and the Canadians like McKay sound exactly alike though we are told you do not' he said. 'So what do you think about our Elerium?' he asked. 'Your Naquadah has certainly made many of my people overjoyed.'

'Hard to believe they're basically the same stuff' Carter observed.

'They're _what_?' O'Neill asked, walking over holding a canapé in one hand and a glass of orange juice in the other.

'They're the same element' Carter told him. 'Weren't you in the lecture earlier?' she asked in confusion, she'd swear she saw him there.

'I was at the back, difficult to hear' O'Neill told her. He didn't mention he and one of the Area 51 Security Team were actually playing cards back there, it was the fact the guy had won ten bucks from him that was the clincher as to him not telling her the truth, he _must_ have cheated, O'Neill's system was foolproof, or so he thought.

Carter sighed. 'Naquadah and Elerium are both element 115, they're a stable isotope of Ununpentium' she told him, 'the difference between them is that they're different allotropes of the same element.'

'Allotropes?' O'Neill repeated, none the wiser.

'Allotropes are forms of an element which are bonded together differently so they take different forms' Zelenka told him, he was used to trying to explain these things to the military, X-COM soldiers were no more scientifically literate as a rule than soldiers generally.

'Naquadah and Elerium don't look anything _like_ each other' O'Neill pointed out. Naquadah was basically grey and metallic, Elerium was green, glowing crystal crap, he'd seen some earlier.

'Neither do Graphite and Diamond but they're both allotropes of carbon with nothing else in them, the atoms are just arranged differently which effects not only how they look but other things too' Carter responded. 'Diamond is hard enough to cut glass but graphite rubs off on a sheet of paper, Graphite conducts electricity, Diamond doesn't.'

'Diamond is a crystal you can see through like Elerium, Graphite isn't, like ordinary Naquadah' Zelinka interjected. 'Same element, radically different properties' he said.

'They even behave differently radiologically, which they _shouldn't_ but they're both so weird to start with that's not remotely the strangest thing about them' Carter noted. 'Liquid Naquadah, the form that powers Staff-Weapons for example, is the _third_ allotrope' she told O'Neill, 'it's actually the Naquadah equivalent of Carbon Fullerine, Buckyballs I mean' she said. 'The atoms are arranged so that they form tiny molecular balls so it's like a sea of ball-bearings, that acts like a liquid in effect but isn't really' she explained. 'Liquid Naquadah _does_ share the green glow with Elerium so in _some_ ways it apparently behaves as an intermediary between the other two' she added.

'Buckyballs?' O'Neill queried, narrowing his eyes. He sometimes thought she was making up words on the spot, though not as often as he thought that of Daniel.

'I'll find a picture in a text book back at the SGC, it'll be easier than trying to explain' Carter told him.

'The good news is that now we know this we may be able to find a way to produce Elerium from raw Naquadah' Zelinka said. 'This is wonderful news as we are woefully short of it, and although in some ways inferior to ordinary Naquadah for power generation, it is much easier to construct an Elerium powered spacecraft, especially a small fighter sized one.'

'Yeah?' O'Neill asked.

Carter nodded. 'Elerium is used up a great deal faster in use but its ability to generate gravity waves in certain conditions is more than useful' she said. 'A hybrid powerplant that used an Elerium Engine only to provide motive force, and a Naquadah Generator to power everything else, weapons, radar, avionics etc. would drastically increase fuel efficiency.'

'I liked the presentation by Professor Ross from X-COM North America and his idea for a liquid Naquadah afterburner unit' Zelenka interjected, 'though I am not sure of the feasibility.'

'If you could get it to work it would be a sight to see' Carter agreed, 'but so would the engine exploding like a thermonuclear bomb if something went wrong.'

'It would not be a project I would be overjoyed to be assigned to' Zelenka observed. 'McKay is approaching, I apologise for abandoning you and fleeing the scene though perhaps you could get your colleague here to shoot him?' he suggested, indicating O'Neill.

As Zelenka gave a slight bow and left, ignoring McKay, Carter turned to O'Neill. 'These X-COM people never cease to amaze me with how quick they can figure out the simple solution to seemingly insurmountable technical problems' she told him.

-

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**_Note from the Author:_**

_The F-302 wasn't in service by this point which meant it was unlikely he was already in the SGC (or promoted to Lt. Colonel) and I figured that X-COM would be out recruiting the best pilots from all the contributing nations so Cameron Mitchell as an Interceptor Pilot seemed like a nice touch._

_Commander Russ Sharp is a character mentioned in the fluff to X-COM Terror from the Deep as being involved in the First Alien War from 1999-2003, I didn't invent him I just moved him from running their training program to the SGC. __Illya Dwoskin is the name of the X-COM Finance director at this time from the same source._

_McKay would have been at Area 51 and hadn't met Carter as yet by this point in the Stargate timeline. Zelenka wouldn't have been in the Stargate program yet at all, and X-COM recruited from around the world so I thought why not?_

_Feedback is always welcome :-)_


	3. Chapter 3

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

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**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2000**

Commander Sharp had only met Colonel Jack O'Neill the day before but it was already apparent he was going to be trouble, not that it was remotely unexpected, he had guessed it would be the case based on both the mans file plus the vociferous warnings from General Hammond about treating the commanding officer of SG1 with kid gloves. Frankly Sharp would have preferred to knock him on his ass wearing boxing gloves, but he was doing his best not to stir up any more trouble between his people and the SGC, there was plenty of friction already.

Another source of strife was likely about to present itself but if it was an easy job they would have given it to someone else he reasoned as the door opened and O'Neill entered the briefing room followed by Major Carter and the Jaffa turncoat.

'You asked to see us Commander?' O'Neill began, pointedly not moving to take a seat.

'If by that you mean I issued an order for you to report to me then yes, yes I did' Sharp affirmed. 'It wasn't that recently either' he added checking his watch.

O'Neill narrowed his eyes, it was going to be a cold day in hell when he reported to anyone on this base that wasn't bald, Texan and named George Hammond. 'We're here _Sir_' he responded, making sure to say the word in such a manner as to indicate he didn't mean it whatsoever. These X-COM people had come waltzing in like they owned the place and acted like they expected the SGC to bend over and take it, well that wasn't going to happen, not to SG1 anyway.

'It's alright Colonel' Sharp told him. 'I don't expect you to like me and I can't say it bothers me that you don't' he continued. 'They might talk about you like you're the second coming around here, but I won't take you or anyone else in the SGC seriously until I've seen evidence you're as good as they make out.'

'With all due respect Sir' O'Neill replied, meaning very little, 'I could say much the same about you.'

Sharp half smiled. 'Oh we're a _lot_ better than the rumours say we are Colonel' he responded seriously. 'You'll see soon enough I'm sure' he continued, 'on which note I would like to introduce your new team member' he added indicating the young woman wearing the same grey coveralls he was that was stood against the far wall at parade rest. 'SG1 may I present your new team member Sergeant Lyudmila Andianov formally of 216 Independent Battalion Russian Special Forces' he said, the woman snapping to attention as he did so though more for formalities sake than anything else.

O'Neill inwardly groaned, it had to be a Russian didn't it? A Russian on SG1, why couldn't Hammond have gone for the all X-COM teams instead, a few diplomatic incidents and minor wars breaking out would have been worth it surely? 'Didn't think there were too many women in Spetsnaz Sergeant?' he queried.

'Few join, even fewer pass, or perhaps in some cases I should say survive the training Colonel' the Sergeant replied, her accent noticeable but her English better than O'Neill might have expected. 'Of course compared to my more recent military career Spetnaz training and operations were light duty' she told him. 'It will take some adjustment for me to get use to an easy life again now I am assigned to your unit.'

Carter resisted the urge to roll her eyes while O'Neill didn't bother to do the same with his smirk. 'If you're expecting an easy ride on SG1 you're in for the shock of a lifetime Sergeant' O'Neill told her.

'Whatever you say _Sir_' Andianov replied deliberately saying it to O'Neill the same way he had to Sharp. 'Though I believe my own shock of a lifetime was the day I sat upon a live stunrod' she told him straight-faced. 'I am told I took off straight up like a Skyranger and the howling was equally reminiscent of a jet aircraft' she continued, delivering the line completely without a change in her expression or demeanour.

'We've stopped that part of the recruit hazing since' Sharp interjected. 'Too many electrical burns in places that made long trips on the bench seats of a Skyranger very uncomfortable' he said with a chuckle.

'Between that the armour and the laser rifles the recruits are too spoiled these days Commander' the Sergeant opined. 'Are there any such rituals you will feel the need to inflict on me Colonel?' she asked O'Neill.

'We could Zat you' Carter offered deadpan.

'Make sure I am unarmed at the time Major' Andianov told her. 'I am told by those of your countrymen in the team that I have a quick draw like your Billy the Kid' she told Carter. 'I would not wish to shoot you by reflex.'

O'Neill smiled. 'I'd like to see…' he began.

The Sergeant's sidearm was in her hand, the muzzle of the laser pistol aimed directly between his eyes so fast it was almost a blur. '…that' O'Neill finished. 'Do you practice that in the mirror or something?' he asked. Even Teal'c was surprised at her speed and reaction times, you could tell by the eyebrow raise.

'Yes' Andianov replied flatly, lowering and holstering the pistol. 'It has saved my life on more than one occasion' she told him. 'If you wish me to demonstrate my skills I will happily accompany you to a firing range then the base gymnasium, out-shoot you then run you into the ground' she offered.

'That won't be necessary thank you Sergeant' O'Neill told her, he got the distinct impression she just _might_ and he didn't need to confirm her opinions on SGC personnel before he got the chance to show her how good _he_ really was, in the field, not in practice where it didn't count.

The warning claxons went off reporting an unscheduled activation, O'Neill started to move to head to the gateroom to investigate but a look from Commander Sharp stopped him in his tracks. If it was something important he would be told about it anyway.

'I am told Commander Sharp that one of the sergeant's duties is to assassinate me?' Teal'c announced. O'Neill visibly flinching at the words, diplomacy and tact wasn't in his nature either.

'Yes' Sharp confirmed. 'X-COM is not as convinced as the SGC that you are reliable' he told the Jaffa honestly. 'I'm giving you a chance' he said, 'convince the Sergeant and then she might convince me' Sharp told him. 'If you can't convince her then don't ever give her cause to boil your brains with her laser because she will, right Sergeant.'

'Yes Commander' Andianov responded. 'It is however nothing personal' she told Teal'c, 'I have not had the opportunity to develop any particular animosity to either you or your people' she said. 'In my two trips through our own Stargate none of the Jaffa we encountered lived long enough for me to harbour negative thoughts about them, they were completely unprepared for our weaponry' she stated.

That was something O'Neill couldn't help but believe. Whilst they had been at Area 51, and after sitting through an unending series of lectures that had bored him to the point of catatonia, he and other US Military personnel had watched a demonstration of the various X-COM developed Laser weapons in action, from pistols up to cannon designed to be mounted on aircraft. He had even been allowed to try out one of the rifles and after some adjustment to a completely recoilless weapon with a totally flat trajectory he was soon more than impressed, the things were unbelievably good and he was more than shocked to be told that the "Sectoid" personnel weapons were even better, some estimated perhaps twice as powerful. 'They'll adjust in time' he told her.

'They haven't adjusted their tactics much in response to ordinary firearms in the last couple of years from what I can tell Colonel' Sharp responded. 'Even something as simple as cutting down their Staff-Weapons to a more reasonable size and adding a pistol grip, a stock and some iron-sights would have narrowed the gap enormously, but they haven't' he continued. 'We've already got a couple of those in prototype versions but they're still inferior to our L2-A1 so it's unlikely they'll be bought into service.'

'We thought about that' Carter told him, 'I did so of the preliminary design work but the rate of fire is too low' she said. 'Staff-Weapons can only rapid fire a few shots before they overheat' she noted.

'True but mount six of them together and add an electric motor and you've got yourself one hell of a Gatling-Gun' Sharp told her with a smile. 'The first of those mounted on a HWP arrives next week, you can put down full-auto suppressive fire almost indefinitely, the Liquid Naquadah power-cells are good for thousands of shots apiece I'm told, ideal for breaking up a charge of pissed-off Jaffa.'

Carter's jaw dropped. 'Why the hell didn't we do that?' she asked.

'Damned if I know Major' Sharp replied with a shrug. 'We've also got other HWP's planned that will mount dual Staff-Cannons for heavy support when needed, sometimes thunder and lightning has its place.'

'Not exactly the way we do thing around here' O'Neill told him.

'Not the way you used to do things' Commander Sharp responded with a wry smile. 'X-COM is a tiny bit more proactive than you're used to' he said. 'We're going to start taking the war to them, not _too_ hard at first, at least not until we've got the hardware to contest them in orbit, but the softly-softly shit is right out the window' he declared.

'Indeed' Teal'c commented with clear approval of the sentiment, if accompanied by some serious personal reservations regarding the idea of having a sword, or rather a laser, hanging over him from now on. There was something in the Sergeant's eyes that was more than disturbing, he had heard the Tau'ri call it the "thousand yard stare" though the Jaffa had their own word for a warrior that had seen too much action in too short a space of time. A knock at the door broke his concentration.

'Come in' Sharp responded, Master Sergeant Harriman stepping through, an expression of concern over his face.

'Commander Sharp, Colonel O'Neill' Walter began, 'the General sent me to find you, the unscheduled activation, it was Doctor Rothman coming through from P3X-888.'

'The planet Daniel's digging up?' O'Neill queried.

'Yes Sir' the Master Sergeant responded. 'He says that an Unas took Doctor Jackson and the rest of his team had gone off in pursuit.'

'When?' O'Neill asked urgently.

'Three hours ago Sir' Harriman replied. 'General Hammond has authorised you to lead SG1 there immediately.'

'Sir…' Carter began, looking to Commander Sharp.

'Don't "Sir" me Major, get your ass in gear' Sharp told her. 'Sergeant you're with SG1 as of now, go with and retrieve Doctor Jackson from the hostile' he said. 'I'll have a full squad ready to go if you require backup' he added.

They were already running towards the armoury when Sergeant Lyudmila Andianov realised she had absolutely no idea what the hell an "Unas" was.

-

**Stargate – P3X-888 – August 2000**

Reinforced by SG-2 they had deployed into a defensive formation around the gate as soon as they arrived, following on from the UAV that had come through beforehand. O'Neill tried getting hold of both Daniel and SG11 on the radio to no avail and ordered Major Coburn to keep the gate secure before setting off with Doctor Rothman heading to where Daniel had been taken.

'Teal'c take point' O'Neill ordered. 'Pierce, you and Sergeant Andianov watch our six' he continued indicating one of the members of SG2, the others would stay with Coburn their Commanding Officer to guard the gate.

'Yes Sir' Pierce responded, at least the Russian chick wasn't bad looking although that armour she was wearing was less than flattering he decided. At least she wasn't wearing the full ensemble, X-COM armour was okay for the short vicious firefights they usually got involved in but you wouldn't want to hike anywhere in it. Fortunately it was modular by design which meant she had simply gone for the torso and upper arms sections, the normal blue metallic finish painted over by a light brown khaki that matched her coveralls. Much to his amusement written across the back of the armour, just above where her light field pack rested was stencilled her name plus "Ex-Commie" underneath in brackets.

The SG personnel were carrying P90's which had recently been adopted by Stargate Command as a supplement to the normal MP5's. They might in fact themselves be shortly phased out once the teams were trained and equipped with the new lasers but for now only Andrianov was carrying them, preferring both the bulky pistol at her side and the boxy-looking rifle in her hands to projectile weapons. Pierce wasn't convinced, he'd heard the stories but high-velocity lead had served him damn well in the past and still edged out high-tech in his mind as they followed the others along the trail.

'Have you encountered an Unas before?' the Russian asked, keeping her voice down and continually turning her head to scan the environment.

'No but I hear you have to weigh them down with lead to stop them' Pierce replied. 'If it's got a Goa'uld in it the thing will heal fast too' he added.

'The Research Teams will likely be interested in a live specimen' Andianov stated. 'I have both a stun rod and a Zat gun in my pack' she told him.'

'Priority is saving SG-11 and Doctor Jackson' Pierce responded.

'Of course' Andianov replied. 'But if the opportunity presents itself and I am disabled the stun-rod has a simple control, simply turn up the dial to the required voltage and press the button when you touch it to the target' she advised. 'If these Unas are as tough as you make out a full power jolt may be required, do not touch the electrode at the tip, it may be powerful enough to stop your heart and will certainly both burn and cause convulsions.'

'Thanks for the warning' Pierce told her, the accent was pretty nice to listen to as well he decided, even if she did look kinda stern.

Up ahead Captain Griff had been landed with the job of keeping Doctor Rothman moving which wasn't exactly to his liking but when a Colonel gives you a job you do it, especially when his name is O'Neill. SG-2 had a decent reputation in the SGC and Griff was proud to be second in command after Major Coburn but SG-1 were considered the elite, well they were by everyone except the new X-COM people, none of whom were assigned to SG2 yet thank God.

'Sir' Carter announced suddenly.

'Yeah?' O'Neill responded.

'Fairly strong RDF signal. It's gone now not long enough to triangulate' Carter told him looking up from her receiver.

'So what, what, what, what does that mean?' Rothman asked.

'Daniel might have tried to use his radio' Carter explained.

'It could be SG-11' Griff pointed out, just as likely to be them as Doctor Jackson though of course Carter, O'Neill and Teal'c would be more concerned for their team-mate.

'UAV picked up something. I can't explain why it died out' Carter said.

'Alright let's pick it up' O'Neill ordered. A signal meant at least one person was around to be doing the transmitting, the fact it was cut off might indicate they were in trouble.

Captain Griff heard Rothman quietly moan at the idea of moving any faster than they already were, well at least in the worst case scenario he wasn't the lowest ranked one here and could always order Pierce, or maybe the Russian Sergeant, to carry Rothman instead.

When they arrived at the dig site Rothman pointed out where Loder from his team had been killed before Daniel was dragged away, Teal'c confirmed from the corpse that he had been killed by a very strong creature judging by the injuries and that the tracks were consistent with an Unas. SG-11 had left behind a large number of spent cartridge casings which caused Captain Griff to inwardly wonder if they had panicked or the fire needed to bring down a Unas was even greater than he thought.

Pierce and Andianov were scouting the edges of the dig site, Pierce returned with a slightly glazed looking Major Hawkins from SG-11. 'I found him just standin' there, starin' off into space' he reported.

'Colonel' Hawkins said.

'Where's the rest of your men?' O'Neill wanted to know.

'We were attacked' Hawkins replied. 'Sanchez is dead for sure. I don't know what happened after that. We got split up. I was hoping some of them might've made it back' he reported.

'Oh God' Rothman said in shock, he knew these people, they were his team, some even his friends.

Carter took a breath. 'Major we've been trying to contact you for the last few hours' she told him.

Hawkins blinked. 'My men are dead aren't they?' he asked quietly, staring into space.

O'Neill felt a pang of sympathy, losing someone you were responsible for hurt worse than hell, he'd usually wished it was him instead when it happened but they didn't have time for this right now. They could get his head straight back at the SGC but for now they needed to try and make sure nobody else was going to die. Look, Hawkins we can't, spare anybody to take you back to the Stargate' he told him, having already dismissed the idea of sending only one or two along with him as being too risky given the risk of another ambush. 'You're gonna have to stick with us. Can you do that?' he asked.

'Whatever you say, sir' Hawkins responded, sounding a little more sure of himself.

'Let's move out' O'Neill ordered and with Teal'c tracking the Unas trail they started off again at a fast pace, Griff still having to chivvy on Rothman and Pierce keeping an eye on Major Hawkins. Sergeant Andianov was herself keeping an eye on Teal'c but for somewhat different reasons.

The trail led to a river and with Rothman wheezing, O'Neill ordered them to rest as night approached, Rothman gratefully slumped back against a tree just inside the forest bordering the river and took a drink from the canteen Pierce offered before settling down to sleep, his short lived slumber ended an hour later by O'Neill who wanted his opinion on Hawkins who was definitely acting weird.

Lyudmila Andianov considered they were all more than a little weird and kept both her distance and her Rifle ready as she tried to make herself comfortable in her armour and failed miserably. The damn stuff chafed like crazy, especially for the female members of X-COM, a sports bra just wasn't up to the job sometimes she thought ruefully as she eventually drifted off to sleep.

Shortly after dawn O'Neill nearly shot her. Teal'c was at the river bank, she was nearby watching him and O'Neill was watching her. Suddenly as Teal'c started to swing his staff around she snapped her rifle up and a laser beam sliced through the air right next to the Jaffa.

'Drop it' O'Neill screamed at her.

'No O'Neill' Teal'c's voice boomed out and he inexplicably turned and aimed his staff at the team members who all came running. 'I sensed there were Goa'uld in the river, one launched itself at me but before I could shoot it down the Sergeant did so' he said. He didn't add that the accuracy and reactions it must have taken her at that range were almost astonishing. 'Any of you may have been taken as a host' he continued, covering them with his staff.

Shortly thereafter, her hands and feet tied together Andianov wondered if she should have stayed on Earth and fought the damn bugs because this was nothing short of humiliating. Teal'c made a decent case in that what she knew of the Goa'uld and Jaffa confirmed he was the only one present that _couldn't_ be a host, but nevertheless she was still bound and her armour was even less comfortable stuck in this position. Teal'c had radioed the rest of SG-2 at the gate to collect them but it would be many hours until they could and by then she would not only be sore, hungry and thirsty she was already dying to go to the toilet and therefore increasingly cranky. Teal'c himself had resumed searching for Doctor Jackson alone.

'This is ridiculous I'm not a Goa'uld' Rothman stated.

'Well then why didn't you say so? We could have straightened this whole thing out' O'Neill responded sarcastically.

Andianov muttered something in Russian, the words were unfamiliar but the way she said them made the meaning abundantly clear.

'So which one of you is it?' Captain Griff asked, looking around.

O'Neill struggled against his bonds. 'All right, anybody with a snake in their head raise their hands' he declared wryly.

Major Hawkins eyes glowed and Sergeant Andianov's widened as he snapped his bonds easily and stood up. 'Next time I am just going to shoot the entire lot of you' she declared, hoping there was going to _be_ a next time.

'Good idea' O'Neill responded as Hawkins went to retrieve a P90. 'Teal'c' he said loudly to no response. 'TEAL'C' he repeated several times with increasing volume.

Hawkins picked up the weapon and was taking aim when the first of several staff-weapon blasts slammed into his body causing him to collapse to the ground as the Jaffa appeared.

It was a decent plan Andianov considered as Teal'c explained only a Goa'uld host would have been able to break the bonds. She was rubbing her own wrists when Teal'c untied Rothman whose own eyes suddenly glowed and he knocked the Jaffa aside and snatched up the Staff-Weapon Teal'c had put down in order to remove their bonds.

Andianov was already moving before Rothman could level the staff at the nearest target which was Captain Griff. Her reaction times had tested out as far above average and she was quick on her feet too, not only that she was in armour and threw herself between them just as Rothman fired, the blast impacting with her chest and knocking her backwards with the impact. Before he could fire again O'Neill, the first one untied, had snatched up his P90 and emptied half a clip into Rothman who fell to the ground riddled with holes.

'Sergeant' O'Neill said urgently as Andianov rolled onto her back, the front of her armour blackened by the staff blast.

'I am unwounded though I will be spending several hours polishing my armour' she responded reaching around to touch the point of impact pulling her finger away instantly. 'It's hot' she said. 'I am only grateful the weapon lacks penetration, most Sectoid plasma weapons would have likely killed me' she said as O'Neill offered her a hand up.

'That took balls' O'Neill told her.

'Better the weapon struck me than Captain Griff who would have likely suffered serious injury or death' she replied evenly.

'Could have hit you in the head' Griff pointed out. 'I owe you one Sergeant' he told her.

'I will make sure to collect Captain' she replied in her usual deadpan manner.

'Right, now we go get Daniel' O'Neill declared. 'We've lost too many people on this planet already.'

'Pierce and I will bury them' Captain Griff announced. 'They deserve that.'

'Right' O'Neill agreed. 'Teal'c you're on point and double-time it' he ordered. 'Andianov watch our six' he continued as the Russian retrieved her own weapons.

'Are you sure you're okay Sergeant?' Carter asked her.

'I am fine Major, thank you for your concern' she replied with a nod. 'The sooner we can retrieve Doctor Jackson the sooner we can return home' she said then paused. 'Colonel O'Neill I have heard you enjoy fishing' she said randomly.

'Yeah?' O'Neill responded quizzically.

'Have you ever done so with dynamite?' she asked taking a grenade from a pouch on her gear and half nodding towards the river.

'Sergeant I like the way you think' O'Neill told her grinning. The water would deaden the noise and the gunfire had already alerted anyone nearby to their presence anyway.

Andianov pulled the pin and pitched the grenade into the river, it exploded pushing up a jet of water and soon a number of dead Goa'uld were floating to the surface. It was more than satisfying as they went to retrieve Jackson, eventually finding him making nice with a bunch of tribal Unas although the Sergeant did have to burn a hole in one of them with her laser rifle, she beat O'Neill to the trigger by a good half second.

-

**Cheyenne Mountain - Earth - September 2000**

Lyudmila Andianov was still grumbling something to herself in Russian when they returned through the Stargate from P53-381. Helping the Enkarans was just social work to begin with, and just when things were getting interesting Doctor Jackson figured out a solution that _didn't_ end in the remains of the Gadmeer vessel being available for recovery, research and back-engineering. Assuming of course that the overloaded Naquadah Generator Major Carter had rigged to explode would have left any chunks big enough to study once it detonated.

'Look at it this way Sergeant' Daniel told her, 'the Gadmeer seem like a reasonable, intelligent and peaceful race' he said. 'They might prove to be a welcome ally in the future.'

Andianov looked at him askance and muttered something that caused the archaeologist to stop dead in his tracks at the bottom of the ramp letting her go on ahead, Russian was a surprisingly good language for profanity, they had a national history that promoted such a development, the devastation wrought by Nazi Germany in the Second World War and the economic collapse that followed the fall of communism were just the most recent in a long line of events that had taught the Russian people the need to be able to really swear well.

'I don't think she likes me very much' Daniel stated as the Russian headed towards the armoury to offload her rifle and armour.

'At least she does not keep you under constant surveillance in order to decide whether or not to shoot you Daniel Jackson' Teal'c responded flatly.

'She's growing on me' O'Neill declared.

'That's just because when you came up with the idea of nuking the Gadmeer she was all for it' Carter observed wryly.

'Yeah well it's another vote on the team for the "kill 'em all let God sort 'em out" school of thought' O'Neill responded. 'It's refreshing' he continued, trying not to chuckle.

Daniel rolled his eyes. 'You'll forgive my disagreement on that' he replied. 'In any case I think she's an atheist.'

'Okay so it's "kill 'em all, Darwinian selection in action" instead' O'Neill corrected himself. 'It's all good' he added, 'well not so much _good_ but…'

An airman approached and saluted. 'Colonel O'Neill, General Hammond would like you and Major Carter to report to the briefing room after you've unloaded your equipment' he said. 'He also says you've got time for a shower and it might be appreciated if you took one' he added, trying not to grin.

'Very well Airman, carry on' O'Neill responded, returning the salute. 'Forget to put on deodorant during one mission to a jungle planet and they'll be moaning about it forever' he complained as the Airman moved off.

'Be fair Sir you were pretty ripe' Carter pointed out, holding back a grin of her own.

'Et tu Major?' O'Neill asked her rhetorically as they headed towards the door leading out from the gateroom. He was sure it was this damn X-COM armour that was the problem, you couldn't help but sweat underneath it even if they only tended to wear the torso section as a rule.

Twenty minutes later, and smelling of cologne, O'Neill was sat across from General Hammond and Commander Sharp wondering if he was in trouble, or if they had a mission for him that might mean he was in _serious_ trouble. O'Neill and Carter couldn't help but envy Sharp for being able to wear the utilitarian coveralls instead of a proper uniform, it was scruffy but looked damn comfortable as he sat there reading through a file on the table in front of him.

'We want you to go back to P3X-989' Hammond told them.

'Altair? Harlans world?' Carter queried, how she remembered all those codes O'Neill never understood.

'Correct Major' Hammond replied. 'Commander Sharp has suggested we offer Harlan and the duplicates he made of SG-1 a number of our new Naquadah reactors in order to solve their power problems in return for access to their advanced technology' he told them.

'If this Harlan can produce exact android replicas which are actually sentient copies of people it would open up new areas of research into robotics and artificial intelligence' Commander Sharp declared, 'not to mention all the other technologies we might find of use, their tech base generally must be very high to have developed such equipment.''

'That kind of technology is decades, maybe centuries beyond us Sir' Carter told him, you had to be realistic she thought.

'You may be right but the R&D people are already salivating at the prospect I'm told' Sharp replied. 'It was also suggested by a Doctor Zelenka that the power-cells and capacitors used for our portable laser weapons might be as valuable a trade item as the reactors' he said.

'Putting a few of them together to act as portable power-packs for Harlan and the duplicates' Carter surmised, thinking about it. 'They do hold an enormous amount of charge' she noted. 'Good idea.'

'I hate to change the subject but have we heard from the Asgard yet Sir?' O'Neill asked the General.

Hammond nodded. 'SG-4 managed to get in contact via the chamber you found on P3X-974' he replied. 'A local named Gairwyn they ran into said to say hello incidentally.'

O'Neill nodded. 'What did Thor say?' he asked.

'It wasn't him that answered the call' Hammond replied. 'Another Asgard told SG-4 that because of the losses incurred against the Replicators their Fleet is completely tied up and they can't spare a vessel to come to Earth at present, although they were very interested in the news we told them regarding the Sectoids' he continued. 'Hopefully an Asgard vessel will be freed up in the next couple of weeks.'

'Giving them plenty of time to come up with a convincing cover story' Commander Sharp commented.

Carter sighed. 'If the Asgard meant us harm they could arrive in orbit and pulverise our entire planet from there' she told him. 'We just don't buy the idea that their High Council would either do the things the Sectoids are or have to go about it in as low-tech a fashion' she said. 'It just doesn't make any sense, they could abduct people by teleport from radar invisible ships in space, they don't need to fly down and risk getting tagged by your interceptors.'

'Maybe you're right but X-COM remains unconvinced and the stakes are considered too high to take the risk' Sharp replied. 'It's just a pity the satellite defence system is at least two years away.'

O'Neill grinned. 'What make's you think you have a chance of putting anything in space that could hurt the Asgard?' he asked sarcastically.

'Oh I think a few naquadah-enhanced ten-thousand megaton bomb-pumped X-Ray Lasers would at least give them pause for thought Colonel' Sharp responded flatly.

'Ten _gigaton_ X-Ray lasers' Carter repeated, her eyes widening.

'Only ten times the yield of the Goa'uld-Busters you've used before Major' Sharp replied evenly, 'nothing too outrageous, and well within our capability if we get enough naquadah… and they can figure out how to make it work.'

'What's an X-Ray Laser?' O'Neill wanted to know.

Carter looked at him. 'You detonate a hydrogen bomb as the power source for a cluster of lasers' she explained. 'They're destroyed of course but before the entire unit ceases to exist you get an immensely powerful beam with a wavelength thousands of times shorter than an ordinary laser, X-Ray's instead of visible, ultra-violet of infra-red light' she continued. 'Even if only a fraction of the energy ends up in the beams it's still a colossal amount of energy focused at one point.'

'Our big hitters' Sharp agreed, 'but only part of the network which will include hundreds of smaller satellites mounting scaled-up versions of the lasers we've developed for aircraft plus a missile battery.'

Carter smiled. 'I think you're underestimating the problem, it's lack of spacelift capacity that will prevent anything on that scale.'

'Oh our spacelift capacity is near infinite Major Carter' Sharp told her with a chuckle. 'You just haven't thought it through.'

'He looks smug' O'Neill declared, 'better let him get it off his chest' he suggested to Carter.

Commander Sharp grinned. 'We haul the second stargate currently housed in X-COM Europe plus it's DHD into high orbit' he said. 'Transfer the material we want around Earth to the Alpha site through the gate here at Cheyenne Mountain' he continued, 'then we plug in the DHD to the gate in orbit which will then override the system making the orbital gate the primary…'

'And simply send the equipment at the Alpha site _back_ through the gate to Earth but instead of returning to the SGC it ends up in Earth Orbit instead' Carter interrupted, shaking her head. 'It's so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it.'

'The gate's over five metres across in internal diameter, so we can send most satellites through in one piece then we transfer them to the orbits we want from there' Sharp said. 'It's hauling the stuff up from Earth that's the hard part, once you're in space moving things is easy I'm told.'

Carter nodded. 'We could use it to build orbital shipyards too, assemble them like the International Space Station' she suggested. 'If we construct vessels in orbit they could be far larger than anything we could build on Earth.'

'That's what they tell me' Sharp replied.

'Asteroid mining' Carter continued randomly. 'If you can get the infrastructure into space to start with you can start thinking about asteroid mining' she continued. 'And then orbiting power satellites, huge solar arrays beaming energy to ground stations' she continued, 'infinite clean power.'

'Weaponry first, environmentalism second' General Hammond told her. 'Thinking of which how are you finding the new lasers yourselves.'

'Hard to get used to' O'Neill replied, 'but I pity the next Goa'uld patrol we meet' he added. They were weird to use after a lifetime of conventional firearms but they really kicked ass.

'SG-8 ran into a company of Jaffa yesterday' Hammond told them. 'They were throwing Staff-Weapons through the gate for a good ten minutes after they cleared up' he continued, 'we're running out of storage for the things' he declared. Area 51 was having to build a new hanger to store the materials coming from both SGC and X-COM missions.

'I was happy to see that the SGC people have fully embraced our looting and pillaging ways' Commander Sharp joked. 'As for putting those things to use we've tried out one of the Gatling-Staff HWP's against a saucer that landed in South America' he added. 'X-COM is having to replant a large area of the Amazon' he said with a mock grimace, 'it chopped through the jungle like a lumberjack on speed according to the report, best fire-support ever, pure intimidation, the bugs just duck and stay ducked while you flank them.'

'The other war going well then?' O'Neill queried.

'Enhanced Avalanches are swatting them out of the sky like flies' Sharp responded happily. 'Anything too fast for the Interceptors gets met on the ground by our troops, and between the lasers, the Zat's and the new HWP's we're really kicking ET's ass there too, losses cut by more than a third' he noted, which still made them damn high by anyone's standards.

'The Zat's work on the other aliens then Commander?' Carter asked with interest.

'Not fatally as a rule Major, we think it's a difference in their nervous systems' Sharp told her. 'Some of the bastards need a few shots to stun them too, 'Chryssalids especially, and they don't work at _all_ on Cyberdiscs, the little hovertanks Sectoids keep around I mean, but overall they've helped a lot' he answered. 'Floaters are supposed to be hilarious when you Zat them' he added with a grin. 'The discharge sometimes does something to the control mechanism on the anti-gravity unit that lets them fly, so they either crash straight to the ground or else start spinning like a gyroscope' he said. 'Which taught us something else' he added, 'Floaters puke when they're dizzy' he told them. 'Who knew?' he asked with a chuckle.

O'Neill laughed, he was wondering if maybe he should bring along some things for the duplicate of himself? A DVD player, a small TV and the last couple of seasons of the Simpsons would probably get a warmer welcome than the reactors he decided.

-

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_**Note from the Author:**_

_As of the start of this chapter and the Stargate Timeline Daniel Jackson would have been on P3X-888 for the previous three weeks which is why he hasn't featured until now. Lyudmila Andianov is one of my X-COM grunts in the game I've had running a while (and she does have freakishly good reaction times). The SG-1 copies appeared again at the end of Season 4 of SG1 which would be a few months later but X-COM would have been interested in the technology so it's likely they would have decided to investigate as soon as they got the chance._

_If anyone else has come up with the Gatling-Staff I haven't seen it but I'm sure someone must have, ditto using the two gates to haul stuff to orbit._


	4. Chapter 4

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

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**Stargate – P3X989 (Altair) – August 2000**

Captain Samantha Carter was the first through the gate and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was waiting for her, this caused Daniel following directly behind to crash straight into her and the two of them cleared the stargate in an undignified stumble as O'Neill and Teal'c bought up the rear.

'Comtraya' Harlan greeted them with considerably less enthusiasm than normal. 'We have visitors' he added redundantly.

'Aw crap' the O'Neill who had just come though the gate moaned as he came face to face with himself, a _very_ angry looking himself carrying an unfamiliar large boxy rifle and wearing what looked like part of a suit of armour designed to mimic the human torso.

'And what the hell do _you_ think you've been doing?' the O'Neill with the armour on asked.

'Same thing you do, only better' the other O'Neill responded.

'What does that mean?' O'Neill in armour asked.

'Better? It means bet-ter, stronger faster..'

'You're a fucking robot' armoured O'Neill growled. 'You're not me, and you don't work for the United States Airforce' he pointed out.

'I can still do the job though' android O'Neill replied, 'explore the universe, fight the Goa'uld, protect Earth.'

'Unless I'm badly out of the loop the SGC did _not_ outsource my job to a planet full of robots' the human O'Neill retorted. 'I haven't been replaced by mechanisation yet' he declared.

'Pity' Android O'Neill replied. 'You're not getting any younger and I'll bet you've put on a few pounds since I came off the production line' he said looking the other one over.

O'Neill was about to launch into a counter-tirade of abuse relating to rust, metal fatigue and loose wiring when _his_ Samantha Carter decided it was best to intervene before someone had to drag the two duplicate Colonels off each other. 'Harlan tells me you designed a portable power-pack?' she said to her android double. 'Nice work' she told her. 'I got promoted to Major' she added.

'Well that was overdue' her Android duplicate replied. 'Congratulations' she said holding out a hand to shake which they did.

'The bandana doesn't suit me, I mean you' Daniel told his own duplicate who was wearing a piece of black cloth tied over his head.

'Jack's idea' the android replied pulling it off, 'say's it makes me look more dangerous and less like a geek.'

'Wannabe pirate maybe' human Jackson observed.

'That's what _I_ said' android Jackson agreed with a shrug, as the two Tealc's nodded a silent greeting at each other.

Lyudmila Andianov rolled her eyes upwards and muttered something in Russian, one set of them all was bad enough she thought to herself, hoping this was going to be a quick mission.

'Who's that?' Android O'Neill asked, pointing at the woman who was hanging around at the back.

'Sergeant Lyudmilla Andianov, the fifth member of SG-1 as of the last couple of weeks' the original replied.

'A Russian?' android O'Neill responded in surprise. 'They let the Russians into the program?' he asked, nonplussed.

'She's UN via an organisation called X-COM' the other O'Neill explained. 'Long story short, we've got two alien threats now and they were fighting the other one' he explained. 'Now we're fighting both together' he said.

'_Two_ Alien threats?' android O'Neill repeated. 'That wasn't _your_ fault was it?' he asked suspiciously. 'You, I mean _we're_ not diplomatic enough sometimes.'

'Compared to _them_ we are' the other O'Neill replied, indicating the Russian. 'Some of the guys back at the SGC have started calling X-COM the Waffen XX.'

Andianov narrowed her eyes and spat on the floor meaningfully, getting compared to the fascists that had raped and pillaged their way across the motherland was beyond infuriating and if anyone said that in front of _her_ they were getting knocked on their ass regardless of rank.

'So if they've got that reputation why are they with the SGC?' android Daniel asked in confusion. That certainly wouldn't have been tolerated back when he was in the organisation he decided.

'The SGC is with _us_' Andianov stated. 'XSGCOM' she declared turning to show the insignia painted on the upper arm of her torso armour.

'They didn't give us much of a choice' the human O'Neill told the duplicates. 'We did get some nice toys though' he added, indicating his rifle. 'It's a Laser' he explained, 'honest to god' he promised. 'Beats an ordinary rifle hands down, and as for the armour we've got on' he continued, tapping it with the knuckle of his free hand, 'it'll stop a Staff-Blast or a fifty-calibre no problem.'

'What's it made from?' the android Carter asked intrigued, her scientific curiosity kicking in.

'An alien developed alloy' her human counterpart replied. 'Tougher and more durable than anything we've got except Trinium, but it's a lot easier to get hold of.'

'Trinium?' the android Carter queried.

'Oh yeah right you wouldn't know about that' the human Carter remembered, 'we went our separate ways before the SGC discovered the stuff' she continued. 'Trinium is a rare metal that's only found on a few planets and even then not usually in quantity' she explained. 'Properly forged and alloyed it's a hundred times stronger than steel and lighter too.'

'Laser weapons? Advanced alloys?' the android Carter responded impressed, 'any other technological leaps.'

'Naquadah Reactors which are small enough to pick up but provide as much power as a decent sized Fission plants' her human double replied. 'As a matter of fact that's why we came, we were going to offer them to you to solve your power problems in return for scientific access to the technology here' she said. 'We were more than slightly surprised to find Harlan here on his own and you out trying to save the universe.'

'We got bored' android O'Neill stated truthfully. 'Well Carter was having fun taking this place apart' he admitted, 'but the rest of us were going stir crazy.'

'We're going to be having words' the flesh and blood O'Neill declared, 'serious, and probably rude words' he added, putting on his stern look and fixing his doppelganger with a glare.

'What do you think you've got to say I could possibly be interested in hearing' the android version responded with a superior smile.

'I've got every episode of the Simpsons from 1989 up to last week burned to a stack of DVDs, plus a TV and a player for them,'O'Neill told the android, 'you'll listen or they're coming home with me' he threatened darkly.

'If General Hammond finds out he was using the base computer gear for video piracy we're in so much trouble' Carter mumbled to herself.

Android Jack O'Neill blinked. 'I'll be good' he said eventually, looking down at the floor, lousy, rotten, stinking bastard knew him too well he thought resignedly. 'So these Lasers' he said, 'any chance of trying them out?' he asked. 'Maybe getting our hands on a few?'

'That would require approval from Commander Sharp and he would likely require some financial, technological or material exchange' Sergeant Andianov stated.

'Commander Sharp?' the android Carter asked.

'Her boss' O'Neil explained.

'_Our_ Commanding Officer Sir' Andianov corrected him.

'Technically' O'Neill responded, 'very technically' he added for emphasis. George Hammond was his CO as far as he was concerned, Sharp was a damn Canadian Interloper.

'So you might as well fill us in on what's been happening while we've been away' the android O'Neill told his counterpart. 'We won't tell anyone, we don't break under torture, we just break down completely.'

'I'll want a full list and set of reports for the missions you've been running from here' the flesh and blood O'Neill ordered. 'If you've screwed anything up out there I want to know in advance before people hold me accountable for your fuckups.'

'Ditto' the gears and wires O'Neill responded. 'We were always expecting to gate to a world one day and get lynched or something' he continued. 'The locals would have been pretty surprised when we just hung there not dying though' he said. 'Oxygen is for wimps' he declared smugly.

'Bite me Frankenstein' O'Neill retorted.

'That was the creators name not the monster' both Daniels said almost simultaneously.

Harlan was giving Lyudmila a disquieting look which caught her eye 'If you make a copy of _me_ I guarantee that you will end your days in pieces on a lab bench at X-COM Research and Development' she told him coldly.

'She's not bluffing' O'Neill warned him, _his_ Carter, Daniel and Teal'c nodding their consensus.

Harlan could take a hint, the way she was tenderly stroking the laser rifle in her arms gave more than enough discouragement to his notions of expanding the labour force.

**-**

**Forest Edge - P3S-452 – September 2000**

Commander Sharp threw himself to the ground as another volley of Staff-Blasts came shrieking out of the Forest, fortunately Jaffa, or at least their weaponry, couldn't hit the side of a barn if they were standing in it.

The thirty or so mixed X-COM and SGC soldiers accompanying him immediately scattered and began opening up on the tree-line, lasers slicing through both lumber and the occasional Jaffa, but it was starting to seem like there was an inexhaustible supply of the bastards. They'd already butchered at least two companies getting _this_ far and if things didn't start to quiet down soon they'd have to bring in extra men just to salvage equipment from all the dead enemy soldiers they were littering the planet with.

At least they were going to have a few pieces of Deathglider salvage to take back with them even if they weren't exactly in pristine condition after being shot out of the sky by Stinger Missiles, the R&D people supposedly wanted to merge the X-301 and Firestorm projects but they needed more material to work with to overcome the difficulties of putting together Human, Goa'uld and Sectoid technology and still making it all work.

Sharp began crawling for cover though there wasn't anything truly worthy of the name nearby. The stargate here was surrounded by open pasture bordered by forests, with a large inland sea to the East and the hills containing the Naquadah mines and the processing plant a few miles to the West. They were using increasing quantities of the material both at the SGC and for X-COM requirements and P3S-452 had plenty, unfortunately it was also a Goa'uld Stronghold for the very same reason.

The Commander heard a familiar sound and turned to watch a tracked Heavy Weapon's Platform rolling into range. The Jaffa immediately switched targets and opened up on the machine but the rare staff blast that hit the thick frontal armour merely blackened it before the HWP began to return fire in a storm of identical blasts from the six staff-weapons mounted together on a revolving turret

An electric motor turning them like a Gatling-Gun the cluster of staff-weapons, now minus their counterweight clubs at the far end, began to pour a continual stream of plasma bolts into the treeline as the HWP kept rolling along, its treads marking it's passage across the planet all the way back to the stargate. Cooling issues meant that a staff could only rapid fire a few shots normally, drastically restricting their usefulness in suppression fire, but in this mounting when there was a half dozen of the things putting out better than four-hundred discharges a minute between them, the small automated tanks carrying a Gatling-Staff could really kick ass.

The psychological impact of the continual sound and fury was as much of a factor, if not more as the casualties caused. Laser and conventional cannon armed HWP's had considerably more accuracy, a longer reach and overall slew more effectively, but they didn't project the same aura of mayhem on the move that one of these babies did, Sharp thought to himself with a grin, as the machines relentless, plasma-spewing advance continued, the quantity of fire coming from the forest starting to drop off at last.

'They're bugging out Sir' one of the troopers declared. 'We going in there after them?' she asked as the HWP stopped firing. A second identical machine was approaching in its wake and it might have been that which made the Jaffa decide a tactical retreat was in order, the new Tauri machines were truly fearsome.

'Negative' Sharp responded. 'The winds blowing the right way, just throw a few smoke and teargas grenades in there to keep them occupied and watch your IR Scopes and Motion Trackers' he ordered, '_They_ might not be able to see through that crap but _we_ can' he reminded them, 'use Incendiary rockets and grenades on the forest if you have to but only as a last resort I don't want to be cut off by a wildfire in the wind changes' he continued. 'I want 1st Squad to secure the route back to where SG-3 is holding the stargate and to direct traffic once the 4x4's start coming through, 2nd Squad covers from here to the bridge up ahead the UAV spotted while the rest of us are going to take it and push on for the highground' he ordered. 'There's Naquadah in them thar hills and I plan to bring so much back home they'll let me have a big chunk of weapons-grade as a paperweight' he told them as they started their advance once again.

Taking the stone bridge across the river that winded down from the hills was easy despite the presence of a Staff-Cannon and another fifty Jaffa. The defenders were simply shot down from well beyond their own effective range and once they were crushed Sharp and his Troops crossed to the far bank from then on meeting only sporadic resistance as they approached their primary objective.

It was a strange, almost incongruous sight to witness the practically bronze-age slave labour camp that mined the Naquadah Ore next to the sleek Goa'uld factory complex that processed and refined it. The Guards put up a spirited defence and held the Tau'ri back for nearly half an hour, aided by Commander Sharp's reluctance to use heavy weapons, but eventually they succumbed to the vastly superior weaponry and tactics of the human soldiers and as the four-wheel-drive vehicles started to roll up to collect the spoils one of the X-COM soldiers took out a UN Flag which had the Tau'ri Gate Symbol superimposed upon it and, after cutting down a standard of the System Lord that claimed the planet, symbolically raised it over the complex.

Persuading the slaves that they weren't just going to belong to a different Goa'uld Master now, and nor were they going to be killed, was surprisingly difficult. In the end Sharp gave up trying and got them to help load captured Naquadah and Technology onto the vehicles and figured he could take them to the Alpha Site and let someone else deal with them, somebody a lot more patient. They numbered in the low hundreds and seemed to hail from at least a dozen different worlds so they might prove to be a useful source of intelligence at least. Many were in a sorry state and required medical attention which Sharp had provided to them along with giving them access to the food stores.

A final counter attack, a half-hearted combined-arms effort with Deathgliders supporting Infantry and with a number of Staff-Cannons bought up for fire-support was quickly smashed. They simply had no idea how to deal with a competently-led and properly equipped opponent, and unfortunately being that talent and initiative were not all that prized or rewarded in Goa'uld service, the System Lords being far too paranoid for that, the Jaffa always kept repeating the same mistakes.

Against the SGC Teams armed with projectile weaponry they had lost engagement after engagement, fighting against troops wearing armour that could stop a staff blast and wielding laser rifles they didn't so much lose so much as they were either swatted aside or scythed down en-masse as they attempted yet another futile charge. One of the vehicles that had come via the stargate situated in X-COM Europe had bought along a mortar and a salvo of mixed white-phosphorus, high explosive and shrapnel bombs soon bought the battle such as it was to a conclusion, the remaining Jaffa retreating from the field as a broken rabble.

'If it wasn't for their ships we could bring them to their knees inside of two years' Sharp declared watching the enemy retreat. 'Poor dumb brainwashed bastards ain't got a clue' he said shaking his head sadly.

'No offence Sir' an X-COM Sergeant replied, 'but let's hope it stays that way' he said. 'It's nice not to go home without a load of our people in body-bags.'

'No arguing there Sergeant' Sharp agreed. 'After we've stripped this place I want the mines collapsed with charges and the plant blown all to hell then set on fire' he ordered, turning to an SGC Major. 'X-COM offworld SOP' he explained, 'pillage then burn.'

The Major nodded, okay so it was like hanging with Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde sometimes, they _did_ get results he considered, watching another load of Naquadah being driven off towards the stargate as the acrid smell of phosphorus and burnt flesh drifted in and started to assail his nostrils.

**-**

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – September 2000**

General Hammond sighed and looked around the briefing room to gauge reactions, it was a full house with extra chairs bought in to accommodate both the more senior SGC staff and visitors. 'I did warn you that you weren't necessarily the best choice to go and see the Nox' he reminded Commander Sharp, trying not to catch the eye of any of the other SGC personnel sat around the table for fear of breaking up into laughter. 'Especially so soon after you returned from P3S-452' he added. Although fairly level-headed and moderate, well by X-COM standards anyway, Sharp was still not exactly one of the great diplomats of our time and with his blood still up after the combat mission he really shouldn't have headed straight out again on a peaceful one.

'Goddamn hippies' Sharp muttered venomously, his arms crossed in front of him and with a definite scowl.

Better able to keep a straight face than either Colonel O'Neill to her right or Daniel to her left Major Carter spoke up. 'Would I be correct in assuming your overtures to the Nox asking for access to their visual cloaking technology and offering a military alliance didn't go well?' she asked angelically. She thought the Commander deserved his chain yanking a bit, he hadn't exactly _ordered_ Teal'c not to be there too, but he hadn't put his name on the list of people he wanted to attend either. As a result Teal'c was off on a rifle range with Lyudmila acting as both his instructor in the L2-A1 Hades Laser Rifle and of course his ever-present shadow and would-be assassin.

Attorney-Major Kovachek the commanding officer of the diplomatic team SG-9 that had accompanied Sharp to P3X-774 looked down at his paperwork. 'I believe the exact moment negotiations began to deteriorate beyond the point of no return was when Commander Sharp told Anteaus of the Nox to, and I quote "Get a job and a haircut".'

'Scruffy pacifistic munchkins' Sharp growled. 'One of the "Four Great Races" my ass' he muttered darkly.

'On the plus side at Commander Sharp's instigation the Nox have been removed from the list of races X-COM considers a possible Offworld threat' Kovachek added.

'They're a threat, it's just only to themselves' Sharp declared. 'Neutrality isn't necessarily a bad thing but if you're going to try that you want to be like Sweden and make sure you're heavily armed and ready for a fight too' he opined. 'Hiding, running away and turning the other cheek will only get you so far.'

'Thinking of neutral and heavily armed are you still going to see the Tollan?' Daniel asked.

'Yes but I promise to be on my best behaviour if that's what you're worried about Doctor Jackson' Commander Sharp replied, trying to damp down his feelings regarding those sandal wearing loafers the Nox.

'It was' Daniel told him flatly. He had never really adjusted fully to the military mindset anyway and these X-COM people made even SG-3's gung-ho marines look inoffensive by comparison. They got results but they had about as much subtlety as a baseball bat to the side of the head, frankly he was starting to wonder if they were more than slightly unhinged. Even SGC military staff from teams that had seen action offworld alongside X-COM troops had mentioned how ridiculously aggressive and full of bravado they could be, O'Neill said it was a coping mechanism from seeing too much action and that at least they had the skills to back up their bullshit.

'Shall we move on to the next item on the agenda?' General Hammond asked, it was probably best to. 'Doctor Markov if you could begin' he said to the woman sat a few places down the table.

Svetlana Markov picked up a pen and began absent-mindedly playing with it as she scanned her notes one last time. Carter had been more than impressed to find out the Russian was one of the Senior Scientists working for X-COM and in O'Neills words had been practically gushing when they met earlier, he had been worried at one point she was going to produce one of Markov's papers and ask her to sign it but fortunately it hadn't got that far. O'Neill's own interest in the physicist was slightly academic itself, he was wondering if female physicists as a group actually were all hot or if it was just him. As Markov began to talk he also idly wondered if Marie Curie was a babe too, he'd have to see if he could find a picture on the internet.

'The basic problem we have is a complete overload of research projects' Markov told the group. 'Between the technology we have taken from Sectoid vessels, and that recovered from other races through the Stargate, we simply have a over-abundance of useful and eminently worthwhile items to investigate and back-engineer and despite trimming these down to a more sensible number a lack of resources, by which I mean competent Scientists, Technicians and Engineers, is holding everything up.'

Carter couldn't help but nod. 'The Powerpack design we got from the Androids on P3X-989 is notably superior to anything we already have, including those fitted to our Laser Hand-Weapons' she said, 'but it will be months before we'll be able to put them into production because so many other projects are already in the pipeline ahead of it.'

'I hope we're still prioritising the Firestorm Research' Commander Sharp asked. 'Our Interceptors aren't scoring any more, they're just being left in the dust by faster UFO's, I think we were too successful with the Enhanced Avalanches' he said. 'They've adjusted tactics to cope.'

'The first Firestorm will be constructed and ready for flight testing at the end of the week but it is unlikely we'll be building many of them given the clear superiority of our new hybrid Technology Fighter that will replace it in production' Markov replied. 'By taking technology from both the Firestorm and the Deathglider based F-301 project, which has been put on hold, we should be able to bring the production model F-302 into service at least a year earlier than planned and in a considerably more deadly form given that it will use Elerium powered Engines and mount either the new Laser Cannons we are currently trialling on the XF-701' she said. 'Or perhaps even Plasma-Beams if we have mastered the technology by then' she added.

'I was going to get to Test-Fly the 301 before they pulled the plug on the program' O'Neill noted sadly.

'You might get to try out a Firestorm Colonel' Sharp told him, 'supposed to be able to do well over Mach 6 and outmanoeuvre any jet we've got.'

'Doesn't the navigation system read your thoughts though?' Daniel asked, they'd all seen the briefing notes about the craft.

'Partially I'm told' Commander Sharp replied, 'based on alien technology that's been modified for our use and allows for quicker responses' he explained. 'Why do you ask?' he queried.

Daniel turned and looked past Carter at O'Neill's head with a wry smile. 'Oh, no reason' he said with a chuckle as he looked forward again.

'Funny' O'Neill told him, narrowing his eyes. 'Just don't you try it out because you're too absent minded to keep concentrating on where you're supposed to be going and the thing would just fly around in circles until it ran out of gas' he retorted.

'Boys, boys' Markov chided them with a smile of her own, 'another project that has been given high priority is the improved L2-A2 version of our Laser Rifle' she said. 'By using the alien alloys instead of conventional metals we have lightened it sufficiently to allow our version of the Zat'nik'tel discharge weapon to be fitted within the housing underneath the barrel without making the weapon too heavy or cumbersome' she announced.

'It's still heavier than the L2-A1' one of the other SGC Officers noted, 'and that thing's no lightweight to start with.'

'Perhaps you need to spend more time in the gym' Markov replied with a smirk. 'Pump some iron as you American's say correct?' she asked, miming that she was lifting weights. 'Build some muscles' she suggested.

'What about the Plasma Weapons?' Sharp asked. 'We might outgun the Jaffa but the X-COM personnel fighting the other invaders are still badly outclassed' he noted.

'Our researchers say they should have figured out the Plasma Pistol weapon soon and will then move onto the more powerful Rifle and eventually the so-called Heavy Plasma which has started to appear in Sectoid service of late.'

'Heavy Plasma?' an SGC Major queried.

'It is like an oversized rifle and is powerful enough to not only penetrate our personal armour but also go right through the person inside causing massive internal injuries and then on through out the back burning through both rear armour and pack' Markov responded. 'It can blow holes in brick walls large enough to climb through' she continued for emphasis. 'And despite all this firepower it still only weighs the same as the A1 version of our far inferior Laser Rifle' she added.

'Good God' the Major replied, his tone of shock mirroring the responses of the others sat around the room.

'Our forces encountering them are perhaps unlikely to think so' Commander Sharp observed. 'It puts facing Jaffa with Staff-Weapons in a different light doesn't it?' he asked rhetorically. 'One of those Heavy Plasma Rifles can take out an HWP with a single shot' he noted. 'If the damn things start appearing more often we'll start taking casualties at approaching fifty percent again' he added ruefully. Getting to a situation where even a relatively inexperienced Trooper had a better than even chance of coming back alive had done wonders for X-COM morale even if in any other conflict those kind of casualty rates would have still been considered beyond horrific. 'Other than a few exceptions such as Sergeant Andianov and myself you're going to see the X-COM personnel assigned here start to rotate duties every couple of weeks between the Goa'uld and Sectoid fronts' Sharp announced. 'You might not think so but fighting Jaffa is light work so we can give them a break by taking them away from the action for a while to let them get their heads straight again.'

'What about us?' another SGC Officer, a Captain, asked. 'Can we rotate to fight the other aliens too?' he queried.

'You'd have to be nuts to want to but if you're single and meet the entry requirements I can arrange a secondment' Sharp replied. 'You do know there's a very real possibility you'll die on your first mission right Captain?' the Commander checked.

'Well I wasn't planning on it Sir' the Captain replied evenly.

'Well I admire your guts son and I hope some Chryssalid doesn't end up ramming one of its eggs in there too' Sharp told him. 'You'll need to get authorisation from General Hammond though' he told him.

George Hammond inwardly winced and hoped he be able to talk him out of it, he wasn't surprised at the officer volunteering however. The X-COM people had been mentioning how easy life was in the SGC compared to fighting the other alien war ever since they arrived, and it was bound to cause some to want to prove they were every bit as good as the "Commers" by getting in some trigger-time against the supposedly almighty Sectoids, Floaters and Snakemen. Initially the Stargate Teams had thought the newcomers were just full of shit but after actually watching them in action it had been become abundantly clear how good they really were. One evaluation of the performance of X-COM forces in the field that Hammond requested from an Army Ranger in SG-18 was a succinct "fucking amazing" which was short on detail but long on meaning. 'See me in my office after we finish up here Captain' Hammond told the volunteer, he might see sense, you never know the General thought to himself.

'On the subject of guts I would like you all to remind your teams not to try foodstuffs on alien words regardless of how friendly the locals are' Sharp said, with a definite smirk. 'This comes straight from Doctor Frasier who was not overjoyed at the state her infirmary ended up in after SG-6 returned from their last mission with a severe case of… well let's just say they couldn't keep anything in' he told them. 'Both the medical staff and the cleaning crews will be grateful if that sort of thing isn't repeated any time soon regardless of how funny it may seem to the rest of us' he added. He shouldn't have grinned when she told him though, that had been a major mistake, she might have been a small woman but she was pretty damn fierce and intimidating when riled as he'd found to his cost after a severe tongue-lashing from the SGC's chief medic for not taking the issue seriously enough.

Commander Sharp was about to invite Colonel O'Neill to give his summary report regarding SG-1's mission to Altair when a flash of light and the sudden appearance in a flash of light of a short grey guy in one of the few clear spaces nearly gave him a heart attack which was followed by a physical assault and restraint when several SGC personnel including General Hammond grabbed him to stop him drawing the laser pistol at his hip and firing it.

'Thor buddy' Colonel O'Neill began, 'you've got to stop making entrances like that because the only reason you're not dead right now is because our resident Russian Gunslinger isn't here' he told the Asgard as Hammond managed to pry the Laser from Sharp's hand ignoring the Commanders muffled cries which were a result of his being held down.

'We need to talk' Thor said seriously. 'You are in a great deal of trouble and although we are partially responsible we are currently in no position to provide much assistance' he told them apologetically. 'The High Council has however instructed me to contact the leadership of the human organisation known as X-COM with an explanation and what useful information we can provide.'

'As soon as he's calmed down to a homicidal rage feel free to go right ahead' O'Neill replied, indicating the still struggling and now vociferously swearing Commander Sharp.

Thor almost seemed to grimace. 'I see' he replied. 'Will that take long?' he asked.

'Hopefully not' O'Neill responded. 'So how's Mrs Thor and the Clones?' he asked, trying to make conversation in the meantime as a wide-eyed Svetlana Markov stared at Thor incredulously.

-

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**_Note from the Author:_**

_P3S-452 was the world that General Bauer (very temporary Head of the SGC in the Season 4 Episode "Chain Reaction") had Naquadah obtained from in a raid, it was specifically mentioned as somewhere that had plenty so I'm assuming it was a mining/processing operation. In the show Teal'c went with SG3 and they lost a man, here they went in in much larger numbers and with much better hardware._

_Svetlana Markov, as played by Marina Sirtis who **I** think is pretty hot, was the Russian scientist who ran their Stargate program in the episode "Watergate". Carter mentioned she was brilliant so I thought she'd be a likely X-COM scientist in this universe. It's easier than inventing my own characters anyway ;-)_


	5. Chapter 5

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

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**High Orbit – Earth – September 2000**

Hair-Trigger reflexes and a shoot-first-and-interrogate-later policy had kept Russell Sharp alive during his time with X-COM, but the very things that had maintained his grip on this mortal coil were more than occasionally detrimental to the other duties he had to undertake as a Commander in the far less heated environment of his new duties with the SGC. Aggression and decisiveness were a good survival trait in the field when you were shooting it out with Sectoids, but they did him no favours when confronted with an almost identical looking representative of the Asgard race.

Sharp looked around, the act of teleporting had not really felt of anything much physically, which had surprised him, though the experience was nonetheless more than slightly disorientating given that one second he was in the briefing room at the SGC and the next he was on an alien vessel several hundred miles above the planet.

'You know if Thor wanted you dead he could have just beamed you into vacuum outside' Major Carter noted, observing the expression on the Commanders face.

Sharp's hand kept involuntarily tapping against his empty holster. 'I am fully aware of that consciously Major' he replied. 'It's my instincts which are telling me to do something other than just stand here' he explained. It was pure fight-or-flight reflex and although he had the willpower to suppress it he was still far from happy at the situation. Once the shock of Thor's arrival had worn off and his heart had returned to a semblance of its normal rhythm Commander Sharp had damped down his adrenaline rush and now clearly in a calmer more controlled state the Asgard had requested that he, General Hammond and the three members of SG1 present join them on his ship. All had agreed, though Sharp had involuntarily twitched at the idea and now they were stood on the bridge of an Asgard Cruiser though not to a certain Colonel's chagrin one of the new O'Neill Class.

'No offence Commander but you X-COM guys are wrapped way too tight' the aforementioned O'Neill told him as Thor continued to play with the console in front of him.

'The loose ones get a plasma bolt up the ass five minutes into their first mission' Sharp replied evenly. 'It's survival of the fittest, or maybe the most paranoid' he told him.

General Hammond was looking around with interest, his own experiences with the Asgard and their technology were far more limited than those of SG1 and on that basis he couldn't help but act slightly like a tourist and wished he could take some photographs to show the grandkids. 'Well you put up a hell of a fight before you calmed down' Hammond told Sharp.

'I'm sorry about that George but I _was_ caught off guard' Sharp pointed out.

'Haven't seen anyone put up that kind of fight since I told Colonel O'Neill he needed to complete his part of the annual report to the Joint Chiefs' Hammond declared. 'I thought I was going to have to break your fingers to get your pistol away from you.'

Daniel chuckled. 'I thought we were going to have to Zat you' he added.

Thor finished what he was doing and looked up. 'I have finished checking with the High Council and they have agreed that in the circumstances it would be wise to reveal more than I had originally been authorised too' the Asgard announced. 'Until I arrived and accessed your database I was not aware of how much more serious the situation was than we had even feared.'

'Database?' Sharp repeated.

'You call it your "UFOPaedia" I believe' Thor replied. 'Your firewall preventing remote access was surprisingly advanced, and given your overall technology level quite effective, though needless to say it was not a match for our systems.'

'Gee thanks' Commander Sharp replied sardonically.

Thor interlaced his fingers. 'As must be obvious the Sectoids that have been coming to this world are kin to the Asgard' he began.

'No shit' Sharp responded wryly.

'Though when I say kin they are in fact genetically enhanced versions of our standard clone stock which have been modified for quicker reaction times, strength and physical endurance' Thor explained, ignoring the human's sarcastic retort.

'They do look a lot more buff than the other Asgard I've seen' O'Neill interjected.

'That was the intent' Thor told him. 'Some years ago when the replicator threat had become increasing pronounced the High Council was concerned that our over-reliance on technology might prove to be our undoing in the long term, so research was undertaken to develop a more study and physically superior clone which was not as frail and could still carry our consciousness' he explained. 'The beings you know as Sectoids emerged from that research, although the experiments were officially abandoned when it became known how the scientist in charge of the project had achieved such results so quickly.'

'Officially?' Daniel repeated.

'I'm more interested in what was wrong with the methods' Sharp said. 'I can guess though.'

Thor nodded. 'As you have undoubtedly surmised the short-cut that the scientist responsible took was to incorporate sections of genetic material from other species where that material could be made compatible' he told them. 'Among those species were sentient ones, including your own, that were taken without their consent for purposes of experimentation.'

'I'm shocked' Sharp responded. 'No wait I'm _not_' he added coldly. 'So I'm guessing your government is going to deny any responsibility and pin the blame on some rogue faction right?' he asked.

Thor shook his head, he found adopting these human mannerisms around them aided communication. 'Not a faction' he said. 'One Asgard in particular, a brilliant though single-minded scientist named Loki apparently continued the project in secret, using increasing numbers of the enhanced clones as staff, and over the years it has expanded in scope beyond measure.'

'And you know this how?' General Hammond inquired.

'Once word of the Sectoid attacks on your world reached us we were more than shocked but the familiar descriptions of the invader set alarm bells ringing as you might say. It was also at this time that Loki suddenly disappeared which was more than sufficient for the High Council to order an investigation of his computer files. Most had been wiped but we pieced together enough data to become extremely worried.'

'Assuming I buy this can we assume that you Asgard are going to step in and clean up this mess?' Sharp asked.

Thor looked away. 'Would that we could but the fleet is already overstretched almost to the point of breaking and Loki was very careful to make it very difficult for us to do so by deliberately using technologies that our ships cannot readily detect.'

'Why?' Carter asked in surprise.

'Because they are either too low-tech and with such minimal power that they do not show up on long-range sensors or else they are so radically different from known technologies that they simply do not register' Thor replied. 'For example the use of this Elerium as a power source, instead of the ordinary Naquadah which powers Asgard, Goa'uld and Ancient technology alike, means that this vessel is finding it very difficult to track their ships' he said. 'Surprisingly your primitive radar, as with your obsolete projectile weapons against the replicators, is actually of somewhat more utility than our own sensors in this situation' he told them.

'Okay but there's a lot more going on that just a few medical experiments' Sharp declared, 'although I've seen some sick shit' he said.

Thor frowned, or at least that's what the expression looked like. 'Loki motivations are far more than merely seeking to create a better clone' he said. 'He is trying to save the Asgard race from many different threats not merely the external one of the Replicators though it is likely his development of considerable and rising military might is aimed at them' he theorised. 'My people are all clones, copies of copies of copies and over the millennia some degeneration was inevitable' Thor announced. 'Loki seeks to use human DNA to redress this, and Earth has by far the largest population of your kind in the Galaxy to experiment with, so it is an ideal target especially considering they would not have to reckon with Goa'uld Warships.'

'Why humans especially?' Carter queried. 'There's plenty of other species out there, or even here on Earth for that matter' she pointed out.

'Loki _has_ apparently experimented on many races, the origins of the other creatures with whom your X-COM has done battle, but only humans, or rather _some_ humans' Thor noted, looking directly at O'Neill, 'carry a genetic legacy of the ancients which is why you would be singled out for more attention.'

'Why does _that_ matter?' General Hammond asked curiously.

Thor seemed to smile. 'That was one of the things I needed the authorisation of the High council to reveal' he replied. 'Firstly there is an ancient gene that must be present in a being to enable them to activate certain types of their technology including weapon systems and in a longer term sense we Asgard have lost the ability to ever ascend as the Ancients did and Loki undoubtedly seeks to fix that at the expense of untold numbers of _your_ race.'

'So you're saying this _one_ little grey guy, acting on his own, built up a private army without the knowledge of your government and now conveniently you can't do anything about it' Sharp said, more than suspiciously. 'Okay here's my reaction' he said. 'Don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining' the X-COM Commander declared. 'You're either feeding us a load of bullshit or otherwise it's your mess and your job to clear it up' he stated angrily. 'Do you have any idea how many people I've lost? How many _civilians_ have died?' he asked rhetorically.

'If we could bring them back we would but that is beyond even our technology' Thor replied apologetically.

'Fine then wipe the fuckers out and deliver this Loki's head to us in a box' Sharp replied.

'As I said we are in no position to do this because of our fleet deployments and overstretch' Thor replied. 'Even this vessel could only be spared for a short while and needs to be back in action within the next three days and even a thorough investigation of this single system would take at minimum an order of magnitude longer than that given the problems we have tracking their ships.'

'Oh yeah these guys are _fantastic_' Sharp told the SGC personnel sarcastically, turning to face them. 'I can see why you rave about them so much.'

'Loki has been working on this project in secret for centuries we believe' Thor responded defensively. 'He knows our technology as well as I do and has been preparing for the day when the High Council found out all this time, add in the fact we are pushed to the limit and I am ashamed to admit that the Asgard are largely powerless to intervene for the foreseeable future' he continued. 'We do not even know how many of them there even are either in turns of ships or raw numbers' he told them. 'With cloning, reasonably advanced manufacturing capability and enough time there could potentially be vast hordes of them.'

'If this Loki has been working on this for centuries why turn up now?' General Hammond wanted to know.

'It is likely that scouting and small scale abductions have been going on for decades at least, which would likely explain many of the stories regarding such by people resembling ourselves' Thor replied. 'As for the huge flourish of activity from the latter part of the year 1998 in your calendar I have a theory at least, though no evidence to back it up.'

'Theorise away' O'Neill told the Asgard.

'It was in June of that year that you destroyed two Goa'uld ships in orbit around this world indicating that Earth was becoming advanced enough to be a threat to Loki's plan' Thor replied. 'The Sectoids drastically stepped up operations in response and continue to do so at a fever pitch despite losses because they are concerned that technology you obtain from the Goa'uld or others via the stargate will soon make direct attacks on Earth with their vessels completely suicidal.'

O'Neill's jaw dropped. 'It was _our_ fault?' he replied.

'It would be somewhat of a coincidence' Thor told him, 'though as I said it is only a theory.'

Sharp sighed. 'You know that's the first thing you've said that I can completely buy' he told Thor. 'No good deed _ever_ goes unpunished' he said, shaking his head sadly.

Daniel folded his arms. 'And despite raising their game they still can't use any technology much more advanced than they are because if they did the Asgard might find them' he said. 'So no teleporters, not even advanced shields.'

'Their personal weaponry is damn good' Sharp pointed out.

'But wouldn't put out enough of an energy signature to be picked up at anything like long range' Carter noted. 'Same reason why they don't use big capital ships like the Goa'uld or the regular Asgard' she realised. 'Even the vessels you labelled "Battleships" are tiny by comparison to a Ha'tak' she told Commander Sharp.

'We also believe that their base, or bases, outside this system are situated on worlds that are not part of the Stargate network' Thor added. 'This further reduced the chances of being located by either us or the Goa'uld.'

'Sneaky little grey bastards' O'Neill commented. 'No offence' he quickly said to Thor.

'None taken' Thor replied. 'It is an accurate description' he continued, 'in tactics as well as in both colouration and the fact that, as clones, none of us have married parents.'

'That was a joke' Daniel responded in surprise.

'I am not humourless though I think my lack of inflection in your language and different body language makes them too deadpan for humans to always notice I am making them' Thor told him then once again addressed Commander Sharp. 'Although we cannot offer direct military aid the High Council has authorised me to provide Earth with technology to aid in your defence against the Sectoids' he told him. 'It has been judged that since it is a rogue of our own species that has already interfered, that therefore many of the conditions of the Protected Planets Treaty that would normally prevent us from doing so are negated' Thor announced.

O'Neill smiled. 'Finally' he said, 'big honking spaceguns.'

'I am afraid not O'Neill' Thor told him apologetically. 'You presumably mean armaments that would be capable to destroying large Goa'uld vessels which would be massive overkill for dealing with the Sectoid menace and well beyond the spirit of the Treaty' he continued. 'We will however show you how to adapt the types of primitive shields the Sectoids appear to be using so that they work in atmosphere as well as vacuum.'

'So not even _your_ shields?' O'Neill asked.

'Based on the information gleaned from the X-COM UFOPaedia the new Firestorm fighter will already close much of the technological gap performance wise' Thor replied. 'With even a primitive deflector type shield added it would be more than a match for all Sectoid craft within the atmosphere except perhaps the battleship' he told them. 'The fact that it and any succeeding fighter so equipped would also have a considerable edge over a Goa'uld Deathglider, which of course lacks shields of any type, is something that the Asgard never considered… if the System Lords ever mention it to us during future negotiations.'

'Yeah blame us' O'Neill agreed. 'They already think the worst of us anyway' he said.

'If you ask me' Commander Sharp interjected. 'the worst is yet to come' he said before turning back to Thor. 'Okay here's something I want to get sorted out right now' he said. 'If Loki is adding our DNA to yours, and we end up finding little alien-human hybrid kids what happens then?'

'I think what he's saying is, are you going to take responsibility or are we going to have to hold up placards outside the High Council saying "Earth Demands Child Support" on them?' a completely deadpan Colonel O'Neill told the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet.

It was probably a good thing Sharp wasn't armed, because at that precise moment his first instinct in response to what O'Neill had just said was to shoot him.

**-**

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – September 2000**

'I _still_ can't believe they just vanished into thin air' O'Neill complained as they walked to the gate room.

Carter sighed, was he going to go on about that for the next month. 'We had no idea they were remotely that advanced Sir' she replied. 'The only way they could have escaped was to have teleported away, we had the building completely surrounded' she declared.

'X-COM has a team sifting through the rubble of his homeworld' Andianov noted, 'though the Goa'uld were very thorough in their destruction and it is doubtful much useful technology will be discovered' she told them having earlier chatted with one of the other X-COM personnel at the SGC.

'Screw the recovered technology' Daniel retorted. 'I feel sorry for Martin' he said.

'He should not have deserted in the first place' the Sergeant replied flatly. 'I have no sympathy for him.'

'He changed his mind' O'Neill replied. 'Wanted to go back and fight even though he thought he'd die doing it' he continued, 'that puts him way above the rest of his crew in my opinion Sergeant.'

Lyudmila Andianov shrugged. 'We will have to agree to differ Sir' she replied. 'We did at least recover their landing craft intact' she added. 'That may provide some useful knowledge at least' she added on a positive note.

'Only because that X-COM UFO Recovery team pulled the self-destruct before it went off' O'Neill replied. 'Damned if I know how they figured it out that fast.'

'Our people have considerably more experience with that sort of thing than the SGC Colonel' Andianov replied with a self-satisfied smile.

'Martin Lloyd should be grateful that his mind remains addled however or he might have attracted the attention of your experts in _other_ fields' Teal'c couldn't help but observe. Thor had certainly admitted surprise at the amount of information X-COM had gleaned from interrogations of live alien specimens, it was an effective cocktail of questioning, threats, occasional use of outright torture and even worse what they less than euphemistically referred to as "Mind Rape" based upon early studies into psionics. Apparently X-COM had authorisation for such measures signed by the UN Security Council which gave them considerable latitude in methods. This had led to an amusing exchange during their time with Martin Lloyd when he had asked plaintively "doesn't the Geneva Convention cover Extra-Terrestrials?" and received a flat "No" from Andianov in response.

The Team entered the gate room and made a final check on their gear. 'So we're _sure_ we're not going to have to fight out way out of this one?' O'Neill asked.

'According to our Intel yes Sir' Carter replied.

O'Neill grimaced. 'Better take off that safety catch before we step through the gate Sergeant' he told the Russian.

'Yes Sir' Andianov replied.

'He's kidding Sergeant' Carter told her.

'I realise that Major but it is of no consequence as I never go through the gate with the safety catch on in any case' Andianov responded deadpan.

'She's kidding Major' O'Neill told Carter with a grin.

'I wish I was so sure' Carter replied evenly.

'So what is so special about P8X-362?' Andianov asked.

'I swear she stops listening to briefings after it's mentioned the chances for combat are negligible' Daniel responded wryly.

'Please do not mock me Dr Jackson' Andianov replied. 'I realise that P8X-362 is a mineral rich planet, which unlike many others has not been strip-mined by the Goa'uld' she said. 'My question related to why SG1 in particular would be sent on this mission rather than one of the other teams? Surely we have better things to do?'

'Oh right' Daniel responded. 'Well you wouldn't know the background but P8X-362 was one of the first planets the SGC ever visited and SG-4 found that, although the locals were friendly, they had a system of negotiating deals which was very much based upon social standing and hierarchy' he said. 'As SG1 is the SGC's lead team we're in a better position to get favourable mining rights than anyone else.'

'Naquadah or Trinium?' the Sergeant queried.

'Neither' Carter replied. 'Lanthanide elements, they're used in certain specialised alloys as well as laser's and we need a lot more of them than we used to' she replied.

'Rare?' O'Neill asked.

'It varies from metal to metal' Carter replied. 'Luteium is scare enough that it's several times more expensive per gram than Gold and we need it to produce the modified deflector shield Thor provided the plans for' she explained.

'We've _got_ to go on commission' O'Neill responded shaking his head. 'Maybe a finders fee?'

'I thought we were in it for the planet not the money' Daniel replied with a smile as the gate started to spin up.

'Say's the man who gets paid half again as much as the rest of us' O'Neill retorted. 'How _is_ the search going for the new house with the swimming pool anyway?' he asked sarcastically.

'I'm viewing a couple of places Friday' Daniel replied, his smile widening into a grin. 'I _never_ thought I'd get rich in archaeology' he said in mild amazement.

'Capitalism' Andianov said with a dismissive snort, then paused 'Sorry it is my communist upbringing coming to the fore, it is hard to forgot all those years of exposure to Marxist propaganda in the Young Pioneers' she apologised as the Stargate activated with the usual pseudo wave-like kawoosh and the six wheeled robot scout rolled through making sure there was nothing untoward on the other side.

'MALP shows all clear' reported the control room over the loud speaker system.

'In Soviet Russia MALP watches _you_ ' Andianov declared as they headed up the ramp.

Teal'c couldn't understand why O'Neill, Major Carter and Daniel Jackson were in hysterics as they stepped through the gate.

**-**

**Area 51 – Earth – September 2000**

'I was supposed to be testing the X-301 in a couple of weeks' O'Neill complained as they entered the hanger, walking past the Deathglider-based prototype which was already being partially disassembled as benefits its status as a dead-end project. According to some of the X-COM people who had taken a look it was a good thing too because they claimed to have discovered failsafe programming that the Area-51 people had missed.

'Get over it Sir' Carter told him, trying not to chuckle. 'It was never going to be a production fighter anyway' she noted.

'It still looks cooler than _that_ thing Major' O'Neill replied as they reached the small saucer shaped craft which they had come to see take its test flight.

A familiar face appeared from around the other side of the craft. 'Ah Doctor Carter, nice to see you again' the man greeted her, smiling and reaching out a hand.

'Doctor Zelenka' Carter greeted him back, shaking his hand. 'You've met Colonel O'Neill before' she said, 'and these are the other members of SG-1' she continued. 'Doctor Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Sergeant Andianov' she introduced them, Zelenka shaking hands with all of them.

'Call me Radek' Zelenka told them, 'too many Doctors and Military Titles around here already' he added with a smile. 'So you have come to see our baby?' he asked, tenderly patting the side of the craft.

'It's very…' Daniel began. 'Classic' he said diplomatically.

'Like something from a Nineteen-Fifties Sci-Fi B-Movie you mean' Zelenka replied with a grin. 'Yes it does look like that it was the easiest shape to work with because of the way the Elerium Drive works' he explained. 'Although as we learn more about the systems later craft will not have to be saucer shaped' he told them.

'What's it got under the hood?' O'Neill asked.

'The engine is a standard Elerium Drive we took from a Sectoid ship and modified so that it could interface with the mix of technologies that we are using' Zelenka replied, 'this was extremely tricky as you can imagine' he continued. 'It was bad enough when it was just Earth and Sectoid equipment we were using, but now we have also included the superior inertial dampeners from a Deathglider plus one of your Naquadah Reactors which makes the Firestorm here rather more of a kludge than we would like although it does all seem to work together so far' he explained. 'We burn quite a lot of Elerium fuel in flight, which along with the small size of the craft limits its combat radius, but by only using E-115 for locomotive power, with the Naquadah reactor powering all other system we have increased endurance by over fifty percent with enough of a generation surplus to power the new Asgard Modified deflector shields.'

'I think the Colonel was more interested in how that pans out into performance' Carter told him.

'Oh' Zelenka responded. 'Even without the inertial dampener activated it can pull nine gees of constant acceleration, top speed in the atmosphere is just over 4,200 Knots or Mach 6 sustained' he told the Colonel.

'What's it packing?' O'Neill asked. 'Weaponry I mean.'

'There are two internal weapon bays' Zelenka replied. 'Standard combat load is intended to be three Avalanche Missiles, which have the new second-generation naquadah-enhanced variable-yield warheads which can be set to detonate at anything from two up to two-hundred kilotonnes as required, plus we carry a Laser Cannon in the other bay.'

'What's the effective range on the Laser?' Carter asked curiously. The X-COM R&D people had made massive leaps forward in directed-energy weapons and she was interested to know if their designs had scaled up well.

'It varies with atmospheric density, and hence altitude of course, but we tell the pilots an effective range of twenty-one kilometres against enemy vessels can be expected during a typical mission' Zelenka replied. 'Part of the problem is targeting rather than beam strength, though of course being a laser if it is pointed in the right direction when fired it will not miss' he noted. 'There is no dodging a beam of light coming towards you at over a billion kilometres an hour' he noted.

'That far exceeds the capabilities of the Staff-Cannon fitted to Goa'uld Deathgliders' Teal'c noted.

Zelenka nodded. 'Our Firestorm here could eat Deathgliders for breakfast' he said enthusiastically.

'Looking forward to that' another voice interrupted. 'The diet of Sectoid ships is getting samey' it continued as a man wearing a grey flightsuit with both USAF wings on the chest and X-COM patches on the shoulders approached.

Zelenka half turned. 'May I introduce Lieutenant-Colonel Cameron Mitchell who is our test pilot for the Firestorm' he said.

'I suppose Radek here has already mentioned we're going by first names around here Colonel' Mitchell said to O'Neill. 'If you're okay with that you can call me Cam' he offered reaching out a hand.

'When in Rome do as the Romans do' O'Neill replied. 'Jack O'Neill' he said shaking the proffered hand. 'This is Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c and Lyumila Andianov' he introduced the others.

'I've met the fastest Gun in the East before' Mitchell said with a grin. 'We were both based in Hawaii together for a while' he explained. 'I once made the mistake of thinking my finely honed fighter-pilots reflexes were a match for her and got creamed at table-tennis five straight games' he said shaking hands with Andianov.

'I can imagine' O'Neill replied, the woman had reaction times and hand-eye coordination which was frankly freakish, of course if she hadn't she would have likely been dead after her first few missions. Lots of the X-COM field grunts seemed to be exceptional in one way or another, the South-African guy now assigned to SG-3 made the Marine's distinctly uncomfortable, he could shoot a lot better than they could and that wasn't easy to do given that they were some of the top marksmen from a Corps that valued the skills of a riflemen very highly.

'You're Airforce then?' Carter noted, indicating Mitchell's wings.

'I was seconded over to X-COM last year' Mitchell replied. 'Been flying out of the Islands most of that time until they offered me the job of testing the Firestorm' he told her. 'I thought going from F-16 Vipers to XF-701 Interceptors was a leap but this thing is a whole new ball game' he said rapping the metallic side of the saucer.

'I thought the XF-701 was called the _Sigrdrífa_' Daniel asked. It meant "Victory Bringer" in Old Norse.

'It is officially, like the F-16 is officially the Fighting Falcon not the Viper' Mitchell replied. 'We call the thing an "Interceptor" because hardly anyone can pronounce Sigrdrífa properly' he told them.

'Thor got a kick out of it when we told him anyway' O'Neill told the pilot. 'The Asgard have a ship called that too.'

'_They_ probably have less trouble saying it' Mitchell replied with a smile. 'The weapon's system is properly linked into the navigation now right Radek?' he asked the X-COM scientist.

'Yes' Zelenka replied.

'And I'm _definitely_ not going to have to think in Czech to make it work?' Mitchell asked.

'That was an oversight, it's all fixed now' Zelenka replied sheepishly.

Mitchell chuckled. 'First time we went weapons hot on a test run I activated the cannon and couldn't do a damn thing with it because Zelenka here programmed it with _his_ brainwaves' he told them. 'It was like that scene in the film Firefox when Eastwood had to think in Russian, except that he _could_ speak Russian in the film and I don't know any Czech' he explained.

'It works for everyone now, like the navigation system itself' Zelenka reassured him.

'How does that work anyway?' Daniel asked. 'The machine reading your mind I mean?'

'We just stuck a copy of the metal head-band thing from a Sectoid Navigation computer in an ordinary helmet' Mitchell replied. 'Beyond that I haven't got a clue' he joked.

'I can talk you through it later' Zelenka replied. 'I understand the basic theory though another team did most of the work on that' he said. 'The engines and weapons control were my children' he said proudly.

'Hey it's fast and it kicks ass' Mitchell replied. 'You should be proud of the kids' he told Zelenka.

'I am' Zelenka replied. 'Though it will be eclipsed by the X-302 soon enough' he continued.

'So you the best X-COM's got?' O'Neill asked. 'That why they bought in you on this?' he asked.

Mitchell shook his head. 'I've got thirteen UFO kills' he replied, 'nine of them since we got the new missiles, but that doesn't put me at the top of the scoreboard yet' he said, 'they bought me in for politics' he explained. 'I'm the top scoring American in X-COM and since we were merging efforts with the Area-51 team working on the X-301 they thought sending a USAF guy would be diplomatic.'

'X-COM does _diplomatic_?' Daniel asked incredulously.

'The oversight committee does' Mitchell responded. 'They're largely toothless but the military people like to go along with recommendations when they can' he told them. 'Most of us are from NATO countries, or other democracies, so you might say X-COM has inherited the culture of civilian control of the military to some extent' he told them, 'despite what it might seem like to outsiders sometimes' he added with a grin.

'Sound's like you've gone native' O'Neill told him.

'Like you said yourself' Mitchell replied, 'when in Rome' he told him. 'I'm taking her up in five minutes, better get yourself a good seat outside because the show's worth watching' he advised.

Exactly as promised the show was worth watching. After bringing the Firestorm out of the hanger, hovering just above the ground Mitchell suddenly bought up the nose, or rather the front of the small saucer shaped craft from his perspective, and put the Elerium Engine to full power hurtling off into the sky at a forty-five degree angle and going through the sound barrier before he had cleared the end of the runway continuing to accelerate.

With the inertial dampeners from a Deathglider keeping Mitchell from blacking out from a myriad of high-gee manoeuvres the Firestorm began to perform a series of low-level passes over the base with a large, thought of course all security-cleared, crowd watching with interest bordering on amazement.

'On the second test flight we took the Firestorm out into space' Zelenka told SG-1, 'only a sub-orbital flight but it could make low-orbit and return home afterwards' he told them. 'The ceramic armour we added to increase resistance to plasma weaponry functions perfectly well as a re-entry shield, though the ride is supposed to be hair-raising' he added with a chuckle.

A low-level sonic boom rattled the base. 'Did he just make a supersonic pass going sideways?' O'Neill asked incredulously.

Zelenka nodded. 'Because of the orientation of the engine the Firestorm can only go hypersonic going forwards, above Mach 5 I mean, but it can reach just above Mach 2.5 going sideways and Mitchell once went through the sound-barrier backwards though he said it was highly disorientating' he told them.

Mitchell took the craft into set of what seemed like impossibly tight loops before doing another pass spinning in the air like a Frisbee.

'Can you imagine trying to dogfight against that thing in a Deathglider' O'Neill asked Teal'c in mild awe.

'The manoeuvrability of the craft may be even more impressive than its speed and armament O'Neill' Teal'c replied.

'It's only the inertial dampening that makes it possible' Zelenka told them. 'For one thing you would likely throw up trying that otherwise' he noted, 'or at least become extremely dizzy' he continued. 'The Firestorm is greater than the sum of its parts, you need technology from both Goa'uld and Sectoid craft to make it do that. The only real weakness is its relatively short range' he noted sadly. 'It is also optimised for combat in the atmosphere which is not true for its opponents.'

'Well it might not be able to go to them but at least the next time they come to us we can give them a warm welcome' O'Neill said appreciatively.

'_Very_ warm' Zelenka agreed. 'The next part of the demonstration will be the use of the laser cannon against ground targets and aerial drones' he said.

'Sweet' O'Neil replied enthusiastically. He wondered whose ass he was going to have to kiss, or how many favours he needed to call in, to get a turn in the pilot's seat. It really _did_ look like something from an old B-Movie but he was willing to accept the aesthetics for a hot ship with moves like that.

Watching through binoculars as pieces of unmanned aircraft began to rain from the sky, swatted from the air by a goddamn laser cannon of all things O'Neill was struck by the thought that if they could get this sort of gear from theory to the production line in a few months then how long was it going to be before X-COM really could take the fight back to the enemy and contest space as well as ground battles with the aliens.

Also watching the display Senator Kinsey frowned, this was too much rapid progress with no chance to claim any of the credit for it. He was going to have to talk to the President about getting a place on the X-COM oversight committee as the US representative before he lost any opportunity to profit politically from the situation. The damn foreigners were going to take all the credit and the United States, and more importantly he himself, were going to end up sidelined.

Kinsey left well before the Firestorm finished its display. He needed to get right on this one immediately, and strike while the iron was hot.

-

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_Ships in X-COM Interceptor had shields but in Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense they didn't. Other's have suggested this was because their shield types only worked outside an atmosphere (unlike those in Stargate) so I'm running with that because it makes sense continuity wise. __The "Earth Demands Child Support" line isn't mine either, it's just too damn funny not to borrow :-p_

_The events of the episode "Point of no Return" happened almost identically in this universe with the notable exception of X-COM/SGC taking the small ship Martin Lloyd and his people arrived at Earth with intact_

_The Firestorm section takes place around the same time as the episode "Tangent" when Teal'c and O'Neill test fly the X-301 prototype. The Staff-Cannon of the Deathgliders didn't seem anywhere near the range or effectiveness of an X-COM Laser-Cannon so a Firestorm really would eat them alive, even without the later Plasma-Beam. A larger Al'kesh, or a Tel'tak (which has shields) might require something with a little more punch for a first-shot kill though._


	6. Chapter 6

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**-**

**Gomai Foothills – Chulak – September 2000**

Teal'c addressed the two former Serpent Guards, they and their followers would significant bolster the burgeoning Jaffa rebellion which was why both he and Bra'Tac had sought this secret meeting so that Teal'c could persuade the two local leaders to join the cause. 'It is time for Jaffa to stop whispering about freedom, and begin to show our true power' he told them. Rak'nor in particular was already known for coming from a family that had long fought against Goa'uld oppression, his own father Del'nor, believing the System Lords to be false gods, had seared the mark of his former master Apophis from his son's forehead leaving the obvious scar he wore.

Ma'kar the host of the meeting looked doubtful. 'A power we can only hope is greater than that of the gods' he responded with definite reservations.

'_False_ gods' Teal'c told him without a trace of doubt evident in his own voice.

'Their power is real, and stronger than ever' Ma'kar responded. 'Even Heru-Ur, and the other System Lords fear Apophis' he stated, this time with certainty. 'He commands the vast army of Sokar' the Jaffa noted. The size of Sokar's army and industrial base had rapidly become legend, the factories of Sokar's capital world Delmak had produced a vast fleet of the finest Ha'tak warships that eclipsed those of the other gods.

'An army of _Jaffa_' Teal'c noted. Without Jaffa warriors to act as the footsoldiers, warship crews and Deathglider pilot of the System Lords the Goa'uld were nothing he knew. Although barely more than slaves to the parasites, they were also their masters powerbase and once the Jaffa came to grasp that, and rejected the false divinity of the Goa'uld, a truly free Jaffa Nation could arise Teal'c knew.

'You _know_ of what happened here on Chulak at the hands of Apophis?' Ma'kar asked rhetorically.

'Yes, I know how many were slaughtered' Teal'c replied. 'But, I also know that those left alive are ready to rise against him' he declared. 'The Jaffa are the foundation upon which the false gods have built their empires. We can tear them down' he told the pair.

Rak'nor spoke up. 'To do so, we will have to fight our own kind' he pointed out.

'As the Goa'Uld have forced us to do in their names for countless generations' Teal'c reminded them. 'Only now, we will fight for the freedom of _all_ Jaffa.'

'Rak'nor has the loyalty of a great many here on Chulak' Ma'kar noted.

So, Bra'Tac has heard from you, and I from him' Teal'c replied. 'It is the word of our friend Ma'kar that has brought me here tonight' he told Rak'nor. 'In their hearts, many Jaffa believe as we do. Those with the strength and the courage must speak out' he declared. 'We must fear the Goa'uld no longer. Those who wish to join our cause must be united. Kol'na of the High Cliffs Hak'nor of the Cordi Plains have already agreed to meet at the Chapa Groves tomorrow' he told them.

'Then I will meet with _them_ as well' Rak'nor responded smugly, rising to his feet as he raised his voice. 'And this blasphemous rebellion will finally be crushed' he thundered, glaring at Teal'c. 'Hash'Ak Cree!' Rak'nor ordered as another warrior appeared in the doorway raising a Zat'nik'tel, aiming it at Teal'c.

The familiar sound of the energy discharge of a Zat was heard, but instead of striking Teal'c the Jaffa in the tent doorway fell forward stunned by a shot that had struck him from behind.

Looking somewhat less surprised by the sudden turn of events that the other two Jaffa Teal'c could not help but smile. 'This may be the first time I have been grateful those Taur'ri in authority over the SGC no longer fully trust me' he said as a woman in the garb of a local woman carrying a Zat'nik'tel in one hand and a Tau'ri Laser pistol in the other entered the tent weapons trained as she stepped over the stunned Jaffa on the ground. 'There were two others' she said in a strange accent, 'I've dealt with them' she declared, aiming her weapons at both Ma'kar and Rak'nor in a manner that indicated to them that she was obviously used to handling them and should not be taken lightly.

'You did so very quietly Sergeant' Teal'c told her appreciatively.

'I garroted one and knifed the other' Andianov explained. 'I also used a stun-rod on several others I was not sure of' she told him, 'including the family of your host' she added. 'The rod does not make the noise the Zat does' she noted. 'Do these two know anything of value?' Andianov queried.

'They both may' Teal'c replied. 'Rak'nor being more likely to I think' he told her.

'I will _never_ betray my god' Rak'nor declared haughtily.

Andianov smirked and them zatted both Rak'nor and Ma'kar in quick succession, leaving them writhing on the ground in convulsions. 'You can carry him' she told Teal'c. 'We likely cannot get him back through the Gate that way, not if we're trying to avoid any patrols or general attention from others, but I know of several effective field techniques the KGB taught my Spetsnaz training instructor and can interrorgate him myself' she advised him. 'We should be going' she suggested, 'there may be others around.'

Teal'c moved to retrieve the man. 'What techniques?' he asked, intrigued.

'Cutting works fast' Andianov replied evenly. 'I can also adjust the voltage on the stun rod and apply it to both his testicles and the symbiote to see which bothers him most' she continued unemotionally.

Teal'c blinked. 'Although the latter would indeed be most painful' he told her, 'the former would be far more difficult to withstand' he advised. 'Jaffa and Human biology are not _that_ dissimilar' he explained fighting back a grimace at what she was contemplating.

Carrying a now bound and gagged Rak'nor over his shoulder Teal'c followed the Sergeant out of camp, heading for the safety of the broken line of hills up ahead. She definitely suited the women's garb of Chulak, and he decided he would find her quite attractive if it wasn't for the unfortunate fact that once again she had demonstrated the reason why, that on a basic level, she quite frequently frightened the living crap out of him.

-

**Cloaked Tel'tak Transport - Tobin System – September 2000**

'You should have been there Jacob' O'Neill told the pilot. 'There we were in the Egyptian desert looking up at this ship taking off, Goa'uld at the controls, smug as hell and suddenly the Firestorm they sent up from the base in Poland pops up from behind a dune right in front of her' he said trying not to start laughing. 'So Daniels ex with the snake in her head...'

'Sarah' Daniel called from the back of the small ship. 'Her name was Sarah' he said quietly.

'Right, Daniels ex, _Sarah_... with the snake in her head...' O'Neill resumed, 'she's looking out of her cockpit into the cockpit of the Firestorm, totally stunned that _we've_ got a ship like that, and then the X-COM pilot opens his weapons bays, that's naquadah-enhanced nuclear missiles and a freaking _Laser_ Cannon, raises his hand, points straight at her through the glass then points down towards the ground' he continued with a grin, 'I guess those old ships didn't have shields because she landed straight away and we hauled her sorry ass right out of there' he said brightly. 'I hit her with a stun-rod and we trussed her up like a turkey, I wasn't even going to be there but Teal'c didn't want to go fishing unless we used grenades like on the Goa'uld homeworld and I wasn't going to blast Minnesota.'

Jacob shook his head. 'The Tok'ra won't be universally pleased that Earth is starting to get ships like that' he said disparagingly. 'I wasn't that pleased at the attitude of that Commander Sharp guy I talked to either' he added.

'Blunt would be a better name for him' O'Neill agreed. 'You got a better reception than Thor from the Asgard' he noted. 'He nearly _shot_ Thor.'

'And he actually managed to piss off the Nox which is a feat in itself' Carter added, leaving Daniel with his books and entering the cockpit. 'I think the Sectoids pretty much culled all the nicer elements out of X-COM at least a year ago, they're all pretty much trigger-happy xenophobic jerks now' she opined.

'Be fair Carter' O'Neill chided, 'they're good at it' he said with amusement. 'They're already taking that old Goa'uld ship apart at Area 51.'

'If it's the class of vessel Selmak thinks it is the hyperdrive is slower than the one driving this thing' Jacob told them. 'And it's quirky so we suggest you don't try and strip it unless you want your engineers to glow in the dark.'

'We'll let the geeks know when we get back' O'Neill replied. 'They've already got more stuff to back-engineer than they can handle anyway' he said with a shrug. 'They'll probably want to pick up one of those mines out there when they get the chance.'

'Heru-Ur and Apophis should be arriving for their conference soon Jacob said. 'I've chosen a mine so I hope you're ready for this' he said putting on a headset eyepiece. 'Precision Head-up display' he explained to a quizzical looking Jack O'Neill, 'Trust me we don't want that thing to touch the floor, walls or ceiling back there' he said seriously.

It was a sound plan in theory, provoke a war between Apophis and one of the few System Lords with sufficient ships and Jaffa Armies to wear him down before he became too powerful to stop. Even if Heru-Ur was defeated by Apophis greater forces, as was likely, it would hopefully prove a pyrrhic victory as other System Lords used the opportunity to strike against him themselves while he was weakened.

The plan worked flawlessly to a point, after a hair-raising false start concerning the need for a zero in advanced technology, despite the Tobin being descended from the Phoenicians whose mathematics lacked that symbol, they successfully reprogrammed the mine and sent it on its way whilst Heru-Ur tried to explain to Apophis that he _was_ going to give him the shol'vah Teal'c as an offering to cement their alliance but the attempt to capture him had somehow gone wrong.

Apophis was not impressed by Heru'Ur's words, nor was he happy when the reprogrammed mine crashed into his ship and assumed it was an attempt on his life by the other System Lord. Both Heru-Ur and SG1 _were_ however impressed by the sight of Apophis cloaked fleet appearing and blasting the hell out of the formers Ha'Tak, this ensured that Heru-Ur was only _briefly_ impressed amidst a mighty conflagration of Ha'tak fire and exploding Tobin mines. Unfortunately Napoleon's truism that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy was borne out once again.

When they got back to Earth Commander Sharp thanked Jacob and the Tok'ra for their assistance in ensuring that Apophis, who would now absorb the territory and armies of the deceased Heru-Ur, was going to be a more powerful and dangerous threat than ever, and inquired if they would like to do humanity a favour and give the Sectoids some helpful suggestions instead next time. Teal'c and Andianov were already back at the SGC after returning from Chulak and were not too disappointed that they had missed all the fun.

Meanwhile elsewhere in the galaxy an irradiated and slightly charred unaccompanied message arrived mysteriously through a stargate on the Aschen homeworld. In handwriting Mellon, one of their most respected political functionaries, confirmed was his own it simply said "Under no circumstances provoke X-COM" and was dated as coming from a decade in the future.

It was sound advice from an alternate timeline where much of the Aschen homeworld was burning. That the attempt to use a biological weapon to annihilate most of the population of Earth had been badly misjudged had become abundantly clear when the first BC-305 Battlecruiser arrived in orbit and started to blast the major cities of the Aschen Federation to rubble with ZPM boosted Asgard supplied weaponry. The Aschen were only lucky that most of the Tau'ri fleet was still too busy beating the crap out of the Ori in their home galaxy to be sent their way otherwise the entire planet would have been scorched down to the bedrock before they could figure out how to use the timing of solar flares to get the message back to the past through the stargate.

As a point of trivia XSGCOM 1 never _did_ find out why the Aschen were so obsequious to them when they eventually encountered them roughly a year later on the Volian homeworld P3A-194.

-

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – October 2000**

Teal'c meshed his fingers in front on him resting them on the conference table. 'So it seems that Apophis is not having things as easy as we feared he would' he said. 'After the death of Heru-Ur one of his lieutenants, a previously low-ranking Goa'uld named Terok took command of his forces and has been resisting Apophis with more skill than might have been expected. His defeat is inevitable but he is buying us time.'

'What do we know about this Terok?' General Hammond asked.

'He has a reputation for cruelty' Teal'c replied. 'Intriguingly we learned via our interrogation of Rak'nor on Chulak that Terok was the one who masterminded the trap intended to capture me' he continued. 'It is likely his failure that meant Heru-Ur left him behind when he went to meet Apophis.'

'So because he flunked out he got to live' O'Neill observed, 'I guess there's no justice in the universe' he continued, 'but if we've got Goa'uld fighting Goa'uld I guess we can take off our boots and relax' he said brightly.

'Not all the news is so good Colonel' Commander Sharp told him. 'While the threat from Apophis is temporarily mitigated by his war with this Terok the fight against the Sectoid menace has taken a turn for the worse' he told them, handing out files.

O'Neill opened the file and found himself looking at a photograph of a creature he had never seen before. 'New alien?' he asked.

Sharp nodded. 'We're calling them "Muton's" because of the amount of genetic alteration the Sectoids have done to them to enhance their combat abilities' he said. 'Their skin is actually an organic armour grafted onto their bodies and they're as tough as they look' he told them.

'Muscular build' Carter observed looking at the photograph before reading the brief summary description underneath. 'Cybernetic enhancements for increased strength and improved senses... averages over seven feet in height and over four hundred pounds in weight...'

'All muscle' Sharp interrupted, 'well muscle, organic armour and machinery anyway' he said. 'We lost nine of a twelve man team to them in Laos last week, Zat's don't do dick and our lasers only seem to piss them off unless you get in multiple shots' he said. 'They handle a Heavy Plasma like a water pistol and they're faster than they look.'

General Hammond took a breath. 'X-COM has requested a temporary reassignment of three SG Teams to the Sectoid War until they can train up replacements for their recent spate of losses' he said. 'It's volunteer only...'

'I'm in' O'Neill said quickly.

'I'm afraid not Colonel' General Hammond replied flatly. 'If we're going to be down three teams I can't afford to have my premier amongst them' he explained.

O'Neill frowned. 'What about the Interceptors?' he queried. 'If they're _that_ tough take them down before they land.'

Sharp rubbed the back of his neck. 'We only have three Firestorms in service and the old XF-701's can't keep up with the ships they're using now' he said. 'We nearly lost the Firestorm flying out of Japan the day before yesterday when it managed to bounce a battleship slowing down out over the East China Sea' he said. 'The Plasma Beams on those things outranges our Avalanches' he said. 'Even with the shield design we got from the Asgard taking most of the hit the pilot had to limp home with half the front off the ship melted off, the shield generator fused and the naquadah generator making noises that were scaring the hell out of him.'

'Do we have any numbers on those weapons?' Carter asked. 'Yields and definitive ranges I mean.'

Sharp nodded. 'Only an estimate but we're talking a beam strength in the kiloton range and it's accurate enough to hit a fighter sized target at over 65 nautical miles.'

'Kiloton?' Daniel queried. 'Isn't that less than the naquadah-enhanced warheads _we_ use?' he asked. 'Don't we measure those in megatons?'

'We don't like throwing megaton yield warheads around in Earth's atmosphere' Sharp told him. 'Even a high single digit kiloton explosion is too high-profile for use over most of the planet' he said. 'That's why the Avalanche warheads are variable yield, the pilot can dial up how big the bang is going to be before they launch.'

'Besides which a focused beam of energy at one point is still going to be more effective than a much larger detonation which is spread out over a wider area, certainly against a shield' Carter added. 'It's like using an ice-pick instead of a baseball bat to kill someone with' she said, 'blunt force trauma requires more effort' she said then shuffled awkwardly in her chair when everyone looked at her strangely. 'I've been reading a lot of crime novels recently' she explained awkwardly.

'Okay...' O'Neill responded slowly. making a mental note to tell Andianov to keep an eye on her as well as Teal'c. 'So what are _we_ going to be doing?' he asked.

'Given the situation with Terok the logical thing to do is exploit it' Commander Sharp replied. 'We've got plenty of capture Jaffa equipment from the armies of numerous System Lords so let's get them involved in the fight with some false flag operations' he said.

Daniel Jackson pursed his lips. 'For all their arrogance the Goa'uld aren't stupid' he said. 'We can't think that because we dressed up like Apophis's troops and attacked another System Lord then we can get them involved in the fighting' he said. 'They'd never fall for it.'

'Your concepts of maskirovka are sorely limited Doctor Jackson' Andianov spoke up for the first time. 'We attack a System Lord in the uniforms of Heru-Ur's army and in the name of this Terok' she said.

O'Neill laughed. 'Whoever we attack will think it's Apophis trying to pretend they're Terok's boys' he said with a grin.

'Maskirovka?' Teal'c queried.

'Russian word, there's no equivalent in English' Daniel told him. 'Think deception, camouflage, diversion and imitation' he said.

'Classic Soviet military planning' O'Neill said, 'makes me nostalgic for the Cold War' he said. 'And I like the idea' he added.

Hammond nodded. 'The question is what System Lord do we target?' he asked.

'Cronos' Teal'c suggested with the barest hint of an evil smile on his face. 'He has sufficient forces to be a suitable candidate and the galaxy would be well rid of him' he declared. 'He is already a known foe of Apophis and so should be readily deceived by this ploy.'

'Thought you wanted to deal with him yourself?' O'Neill asked. Cronos had killed Teal'c father who had been his First Prime.

'The chances I will get the opportunity to take his life personally are slim O'Neill' Teal'c replied pragmatically. 'Having Apophis possibly do so instead is an opportunity not to be thrown away and if I am lucky Cronus will meet a very painful demise when his forces are eventually defeated' he continued, fondly imagining him strapped down with Apophis applying a pain-stick to his body, the bright light shining from his mouth and eyes dwarfed by the supernova of pain within. He wondered if Cronus would scream as Rak'nor did when Andianov used her stun rod on him.

'I think Teal'c's in a happy place' O'Neill remarked looking at the beatific smile on his friends face as he daydreamed. 'Any objections to dealing Cronus into the game Sir?' he asked Hammond.

'None here Colonel' Hammond replied, 'Commander?'

'You know the Goa'uld better than I do' Sharp replied. 'If you think this Cronus is a good candidate then I'll roll with it, the more of the bastards we can get killing each other the better' he opined. 'It'll make mopping up the rest easier' he said. 'I might tag along myself, does that Jaffa chainmail chafe as much as I think it does?'

'Oh yeah and find a set in the stores that's been properly washed, I don't think some of the System Lords enforce strict enough hygiene rules amongst their grunts' O'Neill told him. 'You'll want to get in some practice with a staff down at the range, they handle like crap' he started. 'How's your Goa'uld getting along.'

'Jaffa kree!' Sharp responded. 'Who is guarding the chappa'ai?' he asked. 'Or as we say in Canada, "Who is guarding the chappa'ai eh?' he deadpanned.

'Better let me and Teal'c do the talking' Daniel suggested.

'I thought it was pretty good for a beginning' O'Neill told the Commander, 'but you've got to live the role, _be_ the Jaffa, put more passion into the "kree" when you say it' he advised, trying not to laugh.

'Maybe wearing the chainmail with help with the method acting?' Carter suggested, getting in on the joke.

'If you're mocking me I can order Sergeant Andianov to shoot you and she would' Sharp told them in mock seriousness.

'Jaffa kree!' Andianov suddenly thundered, snapping Teal'c out of his daydream and leaving him bolt upright in his chair.

'Excellent' Daniel told the Russian.

'The pronunciation is easier than English' she replied honestly. 'This reminds me, your Russian needs work' she told him.

Daniel pouted and resisted the urge to ask how good her Latin and Ancient Greek were.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Reports of the abandonment of this Fic have been grossly exaggerated :-p_


	7. Chapter 7

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

**

* * *

-**

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – October 2000**

'God damn it' Commander Sharp complained catching his reflection in the glass as he looked down into the gateroom. 'It just won't rub off' he moaned taking a handkerchief from one of the innumerable pockets in his grey X-COM jumpsuit, spitting on it and started furiously rubbing his forehead again.

'You should have chosen a gold insignia instead of the permanent ink' General George Hammond replied trying not to sound as amused as he was.

'You're right, the glue would have taken off less skin' Sharp agreed, 'at least it's fading' he said trying to sound upbeat.

'You can add a brief stint as a Jaffa Warrior to your resume anyway Sir' Walter suggested, looking up from his computer monitor.

'That doesn't count for much Sergeant' Sharp replied. 'Even using _their_ weapons we beat them like a red-headed stepchild' he stated. 'We only hit a small camp but there's no way we should have been able to get away so light, we only had eight injured between all five teams and only two of them were serious' he said, checking his reflection again. 'I spent too long fighting Sectoids' he added. 'If I don't lose at least a quarter of my people on a mission it feels weird' he said.

Hammond nodded. 'The Jaffa have never demonstrated a predilection for small unit tactics' he agreed. 'You'd think they'd have learned by now' he said.

'To be fair Cronus hasn't fought against our people much' Sharp noted. 'Our recent clashes with Apophis troops shows they're learning' he continued. 'They stopped charging down the Laser Rifles anyway' he said sadly, that had made life _so_ much easier than attacking them was. Closing the range down meant even the poor ergonomics of a staff-weapon got more hits and although the torso section of the armour SG Teams were wearing now would stop a blast, cumulative hits would penetrate eventually as the metal crystallised. Plus there was of course the possibility of getting your head blown off by a lucky, or perhaps _un_lucky, shot.

'Can we talk outside?' Hammond asked Sharp.

'Sure' the Commander replied and followed the General out of the control room, and stopping in the corridor.

'Another two of the seconded SGC people assigned to the Sectoid War are KIA from a mission they went on when you were offworld Russ' Hammond said quietly. 'I don't know if you were told?'

Sharp sighed. 'Sorry to hear that George' he replied. 'That's three now?' he asked.

'Four' Hammond corrected him. 'And one more that'll never walk again' he added. 'How the hell did you do it?' he asked. 'Accept losses like that as routine?'

'Honestly?' Sharp replied. 'I tried not to think to hard about it' he admitted. 'We have to beat the bastards so we have to accept the losses' he said simply. 'I used to lose four or more people every time I went out on an op' he said. 'We deliberately never got to know the rookies until after their third mission because the fatality rate starts to drop after that, you learn and adapt fast fighting those aliens or you die, they've got better tactics than Jaffa and they've_ always_ outgunned us.'

'I don't know if I could learn to live with that' Hammond told him. 'I care too much for my people.'

'Be grateful you never had to' Sharp told him seriously before smiling slightly. 'That problem you had with NID, I had it dealt with' he said.

'Dealt with?' Hammond asked.

'I had a few off-duty X-COM people who weren't US citizens pay a visit on the people who picked up your granddaughters from school' he said. 'They won't trouble you any more' he said confidently.

'Should I ask the details?' Hammond asked.

'Better you don't know' Sharp told him. 'I can claim diplomatic immunity with my UN Accreditation but you're not insulated like that' he noted. 'I'll say this, they're all still alive if not necessarily unharmed physically or psychologically.'

'You're right I don't want to know but thanks Russ' Hammond told him gratefully. 'And thank your people' he added.

'Any time' Commander Sharp told him. 'We think Senator Kinsey is involved somehow, we've been watching the son of a bitch ever since Maybourne clued us in but he's untouchable even for my people' he said apologetically. 'We can terrorise a low-ranking asshole from Military Intelligence but politicians are another matter even if we had definite proof.'

Hammond ran his hand up over his bald head. 'How is Harry Maybourne anyway?' he asked.

'Still living in fear of the NID' Sharp replied. 'He's well motivated to keep in with X-COM because he's worried we'll sell him down the river if he doesn't' he said. 'It's been a rewarding association, he was able to steer us towards the guys involved in the pressure made on you through your grandkids.'

'Give him my thanks too then but let him know I'm still liable to punch him on the nose if we meet in person again' Hammond replied.

'Will do' Sharp replied.

Walter suddenly popped out of the command centre. 'Sorry Sirs' he said. 'I thought you'd want to hear this' he said. 'X-COM is tracking a Sectoid Type battleship heading straight for their base in Poland.'

'Oh shit' Sharp swore. 'We _thought_ they were scouting for our installations' he said.

'Most of the military personnel based there are off on a mission' the Sergeant announced. 'X-COM is preparing to self-destruct the base if they survive the base defences and land.'

Sharp turned and punched the wall hard which hurt but not as much as he hoped it would. Then he suddenly froze. 'Get every SG Team member armoured up and with a weapon in their hand in the gateroom right _now_!' he ordered.

'Sir?' Walter queried.

'Just do it Walter' Hammond ordered and the Sergeant tore off to get it done. 'What are you thinking Commander?' he asked.

'The second gate' Sharp said, 'we were going to use it to move equipment into Earth orbit by taking it up in a ship, sending stuff through from here to the Alpha Site and then plugging the DHD into the second gate making it the master here.'

'So when anything is sent back from the Alpha site it arrives in Earth Orbit through the gate we originally took from Antarctica and which you recovered from the ocean' Hammond said then his jaw dropped. 'It's at the X-COM Base in Poland!' he exclaimed.

'Damn straight it is' Sharp declared. 'Get on the horn to them and tell them to get ready to plug in the DHD thirty seconds after the last one of us heads through to the Alpha site' he said. 'Tell them not to blow the base and hold the access routes as long as they can with the troops they have, tell them the cavalry is coming, it's just going to travel a very long way to get there' he said turning and starting to run towards the armoury.

'That is one inventive son of a gun when the pressure's on' Hammond said to himself as he watched Sharp pound down the corridor. That was sure going to catch the opposition by surprise anyway he decided as the claxons started to sound and Walter ordered every team to prepare for immediate action.

-

**Alpha Site – P3X-984 – October 2000**

Commander Sharp looked around. 'I didn't have time to make much of a speech before we went through the gate so here's the straight facts' he began, looking around the twenty or so SGC personnel who had been available to grab their gear and go into action immediately. 'By now an alien vessel will be dropping troops into the X-COM base in Poland and our job is to reinforce the garrison and secure the base' he said. 'About three quarters of you are SGC personnel so let me make this clear, some of you will almost certainly die if you follow me back through this gate' he told them flatly. 'The enemy we will be facing is smart, uses proper small-unit tactics and is packing weaponry that makes these things look like pop-guns' he stated, holding up his L2A1 Laser Rifle. 'This isn't like fighting Jaffa, we're marching into hell so if anyone wants to back out because they never signed up for this shit then go ahead, I won't criticise, you'd have to be fucking insane _not_ to stay here' he said.

A few of the SG Team members looked around nervously but nobody said anything until eventually Colonel O'Neill spat on the ground. 'You come to Earth uninvited you get shot at' he said simply. 'That's what _I_ signed up for' he declared.

'Indeed O'Neill' Teal'c agreed. 'I for one am eager to test myself against such a foe.'

'You poor dumb bastards' Sharp said shaking his head before breaking out into a grin. 'Shoot anything that isn't human, keep shooting it until it fall over and shoot it once more in the head to make sure' he advised. 'They've all got quick reaction times so don't miss or they'll return fire before you get another try, and they _won't_ miss.'

'Sir the Alpha site guards want to come along' Carter announced indicating another half dozen troops who had been guarding the gate when they arrived in the camp.

'The more the merrier' Sharp responded, 'if they're shooting at you they aren't shooting at me' he joked. 'Okay I'm making the X-COM vet in each SG team the team leader for the duration of his mission...'

'Like hell!' O'Neill exclaimed.

'Shut up' Sharp snapped back, 'Andianov you and your people follow me when we arrive, I'm going to head straight for the access shaft with the SG3 jarheads there' he told her indicating the only SGC troops who looked enthusiastic more than apprehensive, 'the rest of you secure the hanger bays, the chances are they came in through there too' he said. 'Listen up O'Neill, and this goes for the rest of you officers that might feel pissed at being put under the command of an X-COM grunt' he said. 'We've done this shit before and you haven't' he said, 'I want to win, and you all want to live, so put your egos on hold and listen to the experts' he ordered. 'Shit, we're the only ones that know our way around the base anyhow' he added.

'One of these days I'm going to drop you on your ass... Sir' O'Neill replied, fighting back the urge to protest further.

'God I hope so because if you do it means we both live through the next half hour' Sharp replied. 'Alright, the DHD should be plugged in so we're going to Poland' he said. 'Dial Earth' he ordered.

'O'Neill I am making you my Second in Command' Sergeant Andianov told the Colonel, barely able to resist a smirk. 'If only because Doctor Jackson is not here' she couldn't resist adding.

'It's karma for all those non-coms I got to do my paperwork over the years' O'Neill muttered.

'Quiet in the ranks' Andianov ordered.

'Enjoy it while you can Sergeant' O'Neill told her, checking his Laser Rifle as the Stargate powered up and the wormhole back to Earth engaged with the characteristic "kawoosh".

Sharp switched on his radio headset. 'This is Commander Sharp at the Alpha Site, is the gateroom secure over?' he asked, then listened for the reply. 'Okay they say the gateroom in Poland is still secure' he announced, 'it's in an annex to the rest of the base because it was added later' he said then listened again. 'Once we get into the main complex we could be knee deep in Sectoids and they say Cyberdisk's too, for Christ's sake don't shoot up a cyberdisk from less that thirty yards because when they blow up next to you the only recognisable part of you left will be a pair of smoking combats boots.'

'Perhaps you will now appreciate how it feels for me as a former First Prime to be what you call a grunt O'Neill?' Teal'c suggested as he raised the stock of his L2A1 to his shoulder to look down the sights at a distant tree. At a visceral level he still somehow preferred a staff-weapon but its total all-round inferiority to the X-COM Laser Rifle had been made very evident over the last few months so he now carried the latter himself plus a Zat'nik'tel as a more traditionally comforting backup. The SGC had yet to receive any of the new L2A2 Laser Rifles with an integral Zat-type weapon under the barrel but they were due soon.

'I always thought the first woman to boss SG1 was going to be me' Carter announced as they got ready to move. 'After you retired I mean Sir' she added quickly.

'GO GO GO' Sharp bellowed and charged up the stone steps followed by SG3 and then Andianov leading SG1. There had better be something to shoot at on the other side O'Neill thought to himself as he plunged through the event horizon.

Back at Cheyenne Mountain Daniel waited nervously for news, he had volunteered to go but Commander Sharp vetoed the idea immediately, being left behind was the worst feeling of all he decided and wondered how General Hammond dealt with it every day. If he had asked he would have been told that it was stress like that which made your hair fall out.

-

**X-COM Base One (Europe) – Earth – October 2000**

Colonel Jack O'Neill looked around the gate room. 'Ours is bigger' he declared, listening to the sounds of what he assumed was gunfire.

'It's what you do with it that counts Colonel' Commander Sharp couldn't resist replying earning a derisory snort from Sergeant Andianov before she could stop herself. 'Okay the double doors lead into a corridor heading for the access shaft to the surface' he continued ignoring the Russian. 'It splits into a crossroads fifty yards up, the elevator is straight ahead and the two hangers are to the right and left' he told them. 'It's a wide corridor because we had to get the stargate through it so hug the walls' he advised. 'The bugs probably won't be expecting us so hit them hard and fast before they get their shit back together' he ordered. 'Remember there are friendlies in here so watch your fire, that also goes for not shooting up the laboratories or the workshops unless you really have to.'

Carter took a breath and let it out slowly. There had been three X-COM troopers already here when they arrived preparing to hold the gate room if necessary and they were now getting ready to open the doors into the main complex. Fortunately the Sectoid invaders seemed more interested in moving in the other direction towards the Research and Development and Manufacturing areas, Carter reasoned they were just as interested in getting hold of the latest Earth military technology as the humans were interested in getting hold of theirs.

The eight virtually identical X-COM bases that between them now guarded the planet were all laid out so that the two hangers and access shaft were at one end of the base and the extensive laboratories and machine-shops were at the other, with stores, living quarters and other base areas containing the radar, alien containment and defensive missile batteries in between. It was a uniform, utilitarian and frankly bland design of steel reinforced concrete and fluorescent lighting that wasn't really too much different from the SGC only with X-COM and United Nations insignia on everything. In the event the aliens managed to reach the containment areas where their brethren were being held they would quickly discover just how failsafe the system was, any unauthorised breach would result in nerve-gas being pumped into the cells, there was even a backup system if the gas didn't work which would incinerate the prisoners, nobody and nothing escaped.

'Alright we do this quick, nasty and with as much violence as possible' Commander Sharp declared. 'Crank her open' he ordered the troops by the doors and they pressed a button that started them sliding apart, initially just a crack so they could check the corridor was clear then wider to let Sharp lead the mix of SGC and X-COM soldiers through.

Sharp moved to the right hand wall of the corridor followed by the marines of SG3 and their own X-COM member Sergeant Breytenbach a sullen South African who Andianov freely admitted was a better marksman that she was "but not as fast". She herself led SG1 along left hand wall as the two teams spearheaded the counter-attack, the others waiting to follow-on behind once the crossroads in the corridor was secured.

O'Neill heard a brief high pitched, almost siren like noise, at least he thought he did at first but after a second he realised he had heard it inside his head.

'Shit, psionics' Sharp growled. 'They must have an officer or too with them, so much for the element of surprise' he said and began to move faster.

'They can sense your thoughts, see your location in their minds' Andianov said. 'We learned that early on, but only Sectoid Squad leaders seem to be able to do it.'

'Their grunts are too dumb then' O'Neill replied, 'guess they don't get promoted over their officers' he couldn't help adding as Andianov and Sharp reached the crossroads and quickly looked around the corner.

Sharp signalled the other teams to move up and then moved across the corridor junction. At the end of another short length of corridor lay wooden double doors leading to a small storeroom then the access shaft to the surface. The sound of firing was closer now, and intermittent explosions echoed down the concrete tunnels, he signalled for the teams to split and as the rest of the troops headed for the hangers Andianov and Breytenbach stood back against the wall on either side prepared to kick them open, weapons up and ready to go as the others aimed between them.

'Go' Sharp ordered and the two X-COM soldiers kicked the doors hard, slamming them open revealing a small solitary grey figure under five feet tall and carrying a large metallic rifle almost as big as it was. The sectoid officer might have sensed their location but the alien grunt now stood in front of an open doorway still looked pretty surprised as it momentarily found itself looking down the barrels of ten Laser Rifles.

As a race they had been genetically engineered by Loki to be stronger, tougher and faster than the original Asgard clones but they still weren't remotely enhanced enough to do much more than think "shit" in a circumstance like this, and although the language was indecipherable that _was_, as it happens, pretty much the only thing that went through the sectoid's mind in the fraction of a second before its brain, and the rest of its body was burned through by a barrage of amplified coherent light.

Andianov was already moving before the sectoids corpse hit the floor, rifle up and firing as she went through the door, the sectoids were smart enough to suffer momentary shock and even morale problems so they could sometimes be intimidated and shaken-up by suppressive fire, at least that was the idea. 'Chyort voz'mi!' she exclaimed, throwing herself to the floor as another sectoid inside the room opened up with a Heavy Plasma Rifle set on burst fire.

The first shot of the three missed completely and went straight over her head striking the door behind her and blasting it to pieces, showering fragments everywhere. The second hit the doorframe and blew a crater in the concrete it was set into.

Moving at beyond hypersonic velocity shot number three of the burst went clean through the doorway and narrowly missing Breytenbach instead slammed into one of the SG3 Marines in the corridor. The effects were appalling, the particle bolt of superheated green plasma simply burned through his chest armour like it wasn't there and blasted his torso apart sending a spray of scorched flesh, rib fragments and blood in all directions as the sheer kinetic impact took effect and blew him backwards.

The sectoid never got the chance to fire again, Breytenbach put a burst of his own into the creature before it got the chance, his laser pulses cauterising the wounds they caused ensuring a far less messy demise than that of the unfortunate marine.

'Don't stop, keep moving, mourn later' Sharp bellowed and charged into the room followed by the South African, Andianov herself quickly getting up off the ground.

Less shocked than the remaining Marines O'Neill was the next through the doorway, he had lost people before, far more than he would care to recollect, and though it was heartless perhaps the fact the SG3 member pouring what was left of his blood onto the brushed concrete floor wasn't one of _his_ team meant he could handle the death far more easily. Carter almost lost her footing on the slippery surface but followed her Colonel as Teal'c took a different tack and grabbed the nearest marine pulling him along with the rest of them. 'Seek vengeance' he said simply which seemed to do the trick admirably, the veteran of innumerable battles the Jaffa knew they could not pause to think about it as they left their broken friend behind.

'Why the hell didn't you make these places easier to defend?' O'Neill asked as he stepped over a sectoid body and found himself looking at the remains of an X-COM soldier who must have died in here earlier on defending the base.

'Why the hell don't you have big automated guns in the gateroom at Cheyenne and why did we have to install proper defensive surface-to-air missile batteries around the place?' Sharp retorted, 'because we're _all_ idiots' he stated. 'If I don't get killed here I'm getting rotary staff-weapons and maybe the laser cannon from the Firestorms set up at the access points of every fucking base we have' he declared. 'The next aliens that drop in on us likes this checks out immediately' he declared, putting down his L2A1 and picking up the dead troopers upgraded L2A2 with a larger capacity power-cell and the trademark plain thirty-millimetre diameter metallic tube under the barrel which held the X-COM copy of a zat gun. He checked the charge indicator and fired a shot into the floor to verify it was in working order before thinking of using it.

Breytenbach had already reached the next door and squatted down ready to carefully push it open. The bugs liked to ambush you, unlike Jaffa who seemed to like charging down machineguns and laser rifles like idiots.

'Clear behind' the South African whispered and slowly pushed the door open a crack.

A bright green bolt of Heavy Plasma blasted through the door at chest height and kept going, destroying a water-filled fire-extinguisher hanging on the far wall in a grenade-like explosion which threw shrapnel everywhere, some ricocheting off Carter's armour and one piece putting a small gash in her forehead. Well that's one unorthodox way to get a Purple Heart O'Neill thought as everyone started firing back through the door. 'Fire in the hole!' Sharp shouted pitching a concussion grenade through the largest hole in the now riddled wooden door, the South African next to it rolling away clear.

The explosion blew the already shattered door off its hinges and Sharp hoped that the store-room he had just blown up wasn't filled with anything too prone to secondary explosions, too inflammable or too expensive. 'Move' he ordered and once again Andianov beat Breytenbach to the punch, getting into the next room before he did. They moved damn well, O'Neill had to admit, Sharp himself already positioned to follow or to cover a quick retreat.

The remains of a sectoid were spread out over the floor amidst a pile of broken crates. 'If I see any of the rest of you clearing a room that way, or doing reconnaissance by high-explosive, I'll kick your ass' Sharp said just before a titanic explosion in the distance seemed to rock the whole base.

'What the hell was that?' O'Neill asked as they took up positions using the remaining crates as makeshift cover.

'Either someone whacked a cyberdisk or a bug threw one of those grenades they use' Sharp replied. 'They go up like an oversized fucking satchel charge' he said. 'Teal'c you and SG3 pull back to the last room in case they throw one in here' he ordered. 'Don't want all to arrive in the afterlife together thinking what a bunch of stupid bastards we all are.'

'Indeed Commander' Teal'c agreed, 'better that some of us get the opportunity to arrive many years from now and mock you' he said completely deadpan.

'The room with the Access Shaft is up ahead...' he began before he was interrupted by the door leading to the shaft being apparently kicked open from the other side and a pair of Heavy Plasma Rifles appeared apparently being blind-fired by sectoids stood either side of the doorway on the other side of the wall.

They were all returning fire when a grenade-sized high-velocity purple sphere flew through the same doorway and exploded against a wall next to Carter. A strange concussive explosion immediately dropped her, O'Neill and Sharp to the ground in an unconscious heap, the latter falling sideways and hitting his head against the corner of a plastic packing crate, he'd be feeling that one when he regained consciousness which hopefully wouldn't be under a sectoid's laser scalpel.

Andianov kept firing and must have hit one of the opposition on the other side because an alien scream of pain rang out and one of the blind-fired Plasma Weapons dropped to the ground.

Moving up and firing his own Laser-Rifle one-handed Teal'c pulled out his zat'nik'tel and fired a salvo of repeated energy blasts at the opposition, another more muted cry indicated he successfully hit another one though the remaining Heavy Plasma Rifle blind-firing through the doorway continued to spew charged bolts of certain death... until the magazine ran out.

Andianov thought quickly as well as moved like it and she immediately charged to the attack throwing herself through the doorway and landing at the feet of a now extremely distressed alien invader who was trying to eject his ammunition clip and load a fresh one. Andianov boiled his brains with a single shot up at his head at nearly point-blank range then finding herself by the Access Shaft rolled to take up a position lying prone covering the elevator doorway. 'Breytenbach get in here' she yelled, the South African moving up behind her, dropping to one knee rifle ready.

A number of sectoid and a few X-COM bodies from the fighting before they arrived were scattered around. 'SG3 with me' Breytenbach yelled as Teal'c checked the unmoving bodies of Major Carter and then Colonel O'Neill behind them.

'They are alive, merely stunned' Teal'c announced. 'The device fired at us must work like a Goa'uld Shock Grenade' he said.

'Try giving them a stimulant shot from your medkit' Andianov called back, eyes still focused on the elevator and rifle ready to kill the next motherless clone asshole that crossed her path.

'I will try' Teal'c replied, unhooking the device from his belt and pressing it against Colonel O'Neill's neck before triggering an injection of stimulant drugs. The X-COM medkits were a miracle of design, they could immediately seal wounds with a substance that instantly clotted blood, inject strong painkillers and if necessary drugs that would practically raise you from a coma, albeit with some strain on your heart.

Lying flat on his back where Teal'c had rolled him O'Neill almost instantly sat bolt upright, eyes wide open and with a yelp. 'You are back O'Neill' Teal'c announced. 'How many fingers am I holding up?' he asked.

'Three' the Colonel replied in confusion.

'Only one O'Neill' Teal'c corrected him. 'If you meet three sectoids shoot the one in the middle' he advised before moving on to Major Carter. 'You were stunned by an alien grenade of some type' he said before giving Carter an injection of her own causing her to instantly awaken too with a noise that was akin to a slurred "Yarf fragglesnoop".

Andianov collared one of the marines who had moved up. 'We are going to the left' she told him, 'the rest of you move to the right' she ordered. 'Teal'c wake them up then cover the elevator doors' she called back. The firing elsewhere in the complex seemed to be rising in intensity, she hoped it was the last sectoids being crushed as they deserved and not a last stand by the SGC and X-COM personnel.

O'Neill shook his head clear as Teal'c injected Sharp and then returning his medkit to his belt moved to support the others as requested. 'You okay Carter?' the Colonel asked, getting up slowly and retrieving his rifle before checking the Commander who seemed to be waking up more slowly, likely because of the evident blow to his head.

'I'm woozy but fine Sir' Carter replied reaching for her own dropped weapon.

'Glad to hear it' O'Neill responded then with a barely concealed grin he delivered a stinging slap with his free hand to Sharp's cheek snapping him around instantly.

'What.. where?' Sharp mumbled.

'Got stunned, back now, grab rifle, kill bugs' O'Neill told him.

'Head hurts' Sharp replied in the same tone picking up his L2A2 and rising to a squat. 'That's a new one on me' he announced, blinking a few times. His head felt like it was full of cotton wool which was only a good thing if you were half way through a bottle of decent Scotch.

'Maybe they wanted to take X-COM people alive for interrogation' Carter suggested. 'We zat _them_ don't we?' she asked rhetorically offering a hand to help him up though still not completely steady herself.

Already mobile O'Neill moved up to join Teal'c and watched Andianov and Breytenbach leading their respective marines. 'Follow the Sergeant there' O'Neill told him, 'I'll shoot anything that might still step out of the elevator' he said, getting his rifle ready.

'Yes O'Neill' Teal'c replied and started to move to support the Russian.

Before the Colonel could yell a warning or fire a thin grey arm raised from among the bodies laying all around and aimed a rifle-like weapon at the Jaffa. A single shot of plasma hit him in the back and sent Teal'c sprawling to the ground

O'Neill fired a snap-shot which instantly killed the sectoid and dashed to Teal'c's side. 'Shit' he said, seeing the hole burned in his armour.

'I am still alive O'Neill' Teal'c announced.

'Keep still you've got a hole in your back I could fit my fist in' he said reaching for his own medkit. 'Carter you and Sharp watch the damn elevator' he ordered. 'I don't want to get shot in the back too' he added stopping the Major running to join them too as he sealed the wound. He wouldn't bleed to death now hopefully anyhow.

'Standard Plasma Rifle' Commander Sharp observed. 'A Heavy would have killed him outright' he said, joining Major Carter.

A short lived flurry of gunfire from the direction Breytenbach had headed was punctuated by a human scream and then a number of apparent death cry of a sectoid. They did not know it at the time but after another of the marines was killed by a single alien waiting in ambush the South African had also just had his left arm blown off at the elbow by a bolt of plasma. Another SG3 Marine gunned down the sectoid responsible as Breytenbach gave himself a shot of painkiller, sealed his own wound and drew his pistol because the rifle was too awkward one-handed.

Working on Teal'c injury O'Neill heard the same sound in his head he had experienced earlier only this time it was accompanied by a sudden feeling of dread which he fought back. Damn aliens trying to screw with my mind, he decided, 'kiss my ass' he thought as loudly as he could.

Carter then felt something different in her own mind, something attempting control, it reminded her a little of playing host to the Tokra Jolinar and she fought it but she felt herself slipping, only her previous experience of her mind being hijacked gave her the ability to hold out this long. 'It's... trying... to... control... me' she forced out, dropping her rifle so they couldn't use her to kill her friends.

'Sweet dreams' Sharp replied and shot her with the zat gun fitted to his rifle. In the old days they had to kill X-COM troops that were mind-controlled by the aliens, stunning them was much easier on the conscience he decided.

Another explosion rocked the base and the distant firing began to slow down. In the end casualties proved to be relatively light, less than a quarter of the reinforcements who came through the gate being killed in action and only 4 more wounded not counting Teal'c or Breytenbach, the unexpected counter-attack _had_ caught the sectoid foe by surprise and they had already split into small groups to search through the base when struck by the hammer blow of numerical superiority.

Near one of the living quarters, which were normally home to the hundreds of evacuated scientists, technicians and engineers who were ordinarily based here, the marines of SG-12 and a pair of X-COM troops who had been at the base since the sectoids arrived were involved in a vicious firefight with three or perhaps four aliens who had decided to dig in and make a stand of it after being beaten back out of one of the aircraft hangers. 'These little grey fuckers don't quit' one of the marines yelled out as a burst of plasma fire went past his head and blew a hole through one of the thin internal walls that divided the accommodation areas into rooms.

'You should see the big green fuckers in action' one of the X-COM troopers replied, returning fire with a series of shots from his laser rifle. 'At least these things fall over when you shoot them' he said, 'Muton's just get pissed off' he declared.

'Need some help?' a US Army Ranger from SG-15 asked loudly. 'We greased the last bastard next block over, lost a man doing it too' he added bitterly.

'Shit yeah' one of the marines replied. 'You keep their heads down and I'll get over there and put them in a crossfire from the left.'

'Remember that they can shoot through any cover you try using' the second X-COM trooper with an Australian accent told them before he was drowned out by the first making a triumphant whoop as he performed a perfect snap-shot and caught a sectoid hiding behind a makeshift barricade of lockers and wooden furniture right between the eyes killing it instantly.

'Fuck yeah!' a marine responded appreciatively. 'Let's finish this' he added with a crazed grin as a barrage of continuous laser fire from numerous human troops bracketed the remaining sectoids, it was getting close to the end-game as other soldiers did likewise elsewhere in the complex.

The base started to rumble as the alien ship which had landed on top of the underground installation lifted off again. It had used a new ECM system to avoid the defensive missiles fired at it on the way in but now a Firestorm loaded with naquadah-enhanced nuclear warheads was inbound fast and it didn't want to risk finding out if the ECM worked on the humans air-launched missiles too or not. It had already failed its mission so now the objective was to flee.

As the sectoid vessel outran the Firestorm Interceptor and headed for space the last shot fired inside the base was taking place as a member of SG-4 found a panicked sectoid cowering in a corner, weapon abandoned. Lacking a zat gun but deciding they'd want it alive he shot it in the kneecap, after watching his friends killed the creatures cry of pain was damn satisfying he thought happily as he grabbed it by its injured leg and dragged it along the ground behind him back to the others.

The alien Squad leader which had been trying to get into O'Neills mind had been knocked unconscious by the nearby explosion of a cyberdisk, the heavily armoured compact alien hovertank eventually destroyed by multiple hits from all directions. When it awoke the sectoid officer found itself strapped to an interrogation couch, a psionic suppressor band around its head preventing it from influencing the humans stood around it as they prepared to strip its mind of useful information, a process X-COM had come to call "Mind-Rape".

One of the humans leaned over the sectoid and looked into the large black eyes which gave it such good night-vision. 'Well this has buggered your plans for conquering the universe' the X-COM scientist declared in a New Zealand accent and with a vicious smirk on his face before reaching for the electrodes.

That the information retrieved from its mind and the new stun-grenade launcher were themselves thought by X-COM to be more than worth the losses of personnel in the attack was not relayed to General Hammond, it was considered likely he wouldn't grasp the big picture as he wrote out letters to the families of the fallen SG Team members.

-

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**_Note from the Author:_**

_In X-COM if you're getting too successful at shooting down and/or retreiving alien ships they start retaliating by coming after your bases. It's a complement really :-p_

_Hope you're enjoying the Fic._


	8. Chapter 8

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

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****-**

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – November 2000**

'So how are you doing today Teal'c?' O'Neill asked, pulling up a chair beside the bed in the infirmary.

'I would be more comfortable if I were able to at least lay on my back O'Neill' Teal'c replied. 'I cannot even lean back in a chair or the pain soon becomes excruciating.'

'Junior not worked his magic yet then?' the Colonel asked.

'Teal'c's recovery has been exceptional' Doctor Fraser injected, looking up from her desk in the corner of the infirmary. 'If not for his symbiote I doubt he would have even been able to sit up at all yet. The injury caused by the alien plasma weapon was extensive.'

'At least his armour took some of the hit' O'Neill said, 'could have been a lot worse.'

'Having picked several armour fragments out of his back I can tell you he was only lucky one didn't go through his spine' Doctor Fraser told him. 'Of course given the number of SG Team members that returned here in a body bag or with permanently debilitating injuries Teal'c is lucky period, one of the larger alien weapons would not have been survivable, armour and symbiote notwithstanding' she stated.

'Bugs have good guns, got to give 'em that' O'Neill replied with a shrug. He _had_ thought his L2A1 Laser Rifle had been impressive until he got to see what a Sectoid Heavy Plasma Rifle could do. Hell their _pistols_ were more powerful than a Goa'uld Staff-Weapon and were more accurate too if only because they had decent ergonomics.

'They are not unskilled warriors either O'Neill' Teal'c opined rolling onto his side to face the Colonel. 'I would not have thought a creature so similar to an Asgard would prove to be so effective in battle' he said.

'Makes you wonder what one of those big armoured Muton things is like if Loki can make the little grey guys into a half-decent grunt' O'Neill asked rhetorically. From what he'd heard a greater and greater percentage of the ships landing were carrying the genetically enhanced alien super-soldiers and it was getting nasty for X-COM as their casualty rates rose. 'Hey the geeks managed to make a prototype copy of their Plasma Pistol' he told Teal'c, 'they think they'll have the rifles like the one they shot you with figured out by the end of the month.'

'And the larger model rifles?' Teal'c asked, 'The firepower of those devices was practically that of a small staff-cannon' he noted.

'They're working on it' the Colonel told him. 'We might not get issued them for a while though even when they get the things figured out' he said. 'They're overkill for Jaffa, hell our lasers already give us a huge edge.'  
'How is Major Carter?' Teal'c asked.

'Still kinda pissed that another alien hijacked her brain' O'Neill replied, 'At least the last one turned out to be a good guy but somehow I don't think there's any such think as a Tok'loki' he said. 'We're getting replacements for the people we lost but General Hammond has scaled down missions for a while so you rest up as long as you like.'

'I would like to get back to duty now but Doctor Fraser says she will not allow me sufficient painkillers to render that possible' Teal'c replied.  
'Even if Teal'c might take a while to develop a dependency we're not sure what the effects of heavy doses of morphine would have on the developing symbiote' the doctor noted.

'You think Junior might turn into a junkie?' O'Neill turned to her and asked in surprise.

'More to the point we don't know what having the thing going cold turkey in there might have on Teal'c immune system' she replied. 'I probably shouldn't have said that in front of one of the X-COM people earlier' she continued with a frown, 'I have this terrible notion that they've got some poor Jaffa prisoner in one of their Alien Containment cells high as a kite right now so they can cut him off and see what happens when he goes through withdrawal' she said. 'There's more than a faint whiff of Doctor Frankenstein about their medical people' she opined, or maybe Doctor Mengele she thought to herself with distaste.

'They're fitting that X-COM Sergeant Breytenbach with a claw to replace his hand' O'Neill told Teal'c. 'They offered a prosthetic that looked... well more like a hand but he wanted a claw because he thought it would be more useful' he said. 'They won't quit and they're so short of people they're letting him stay' he continued. 'So if you ever need a beer he's going to have a built-in bottle opener.'

'The remnants of his left arm are in the refrigerator' Doctor Fraser said. 'He came back with it in a plastic bag and asked me to put it somewhere for safe keeping until he decided what he wanted to do with it' she said, rolling her eyes. 'Can you pass on a message I've still got his watch too' she added.

'Still working?' O'Neill asked curiously.

'Yes amazingly' she replied.

'Got to be a Timex' the Colonel stated confidently. 'Takes a plasma beaming, keeps on ticking' he said. 'So I've got to go to a briefing' he announced. 'See you later Teal'c.'

'I will see you later O'Neill' the Jaffa replied. 'Could you bring something for me to read from my quarters when you return?' he requested.

'One of those Star Trek novels?' O'Neill queried, it still made him grin that a man born on another planet with an alien larvae living in his guts was a sci-fi fan.

'Yes thank you O'Neill' Teal'c replied, 'none of those written by Shatner' he requested, 'in hindsight purchasing them was a grievous mistake' he said sadly.

With Teal'c laid up in the infirmary so she didn't have to keep so close an eye on him Lyudmila Andianov found herself with more free time. She was currently putting it to gainful use by working out in the base gym and amusing herself by pretending to be unaware of the fact that three members of SG-8 had positioned themselves with good vantage points for when she did stretching exercises or treadmill work between sets of free-weights. It took much of her stoic self-discipline not to laugh at the inadvertent moan when she touched her toes the first time, she wasn't what you might call stunning to look at, Major Carter was the prettier female on SG1, but she was athletic and limber and back in her Spetsnatz days Russian Special Forces members used to make appreciative noises when she exercised too.

This was of course why she wore such short shorts and why her old olive brown Russian Army training top was perhaps a little tighter than it needed to be, Andianov liked to play games with the men, it was cheap entertainment and in the unlikely event one ever stepped out of line she was more than capable of flattening him as she had once done to a drunken Captain from GRU Military Intelligence in Moscow who grabbed her ass after a session at the bar, he hadn't even bought her a drink the cheap bastard.

The men the in gym who came from X-COM didn't tend to look so much, they were generally far more focused on the task at hand of getting just a little bit faster, a smidgen stronger so they wouldn't die or at least they'd take a few more aliens with them when the did. They often had an intensity about them which Andianov had realised made others uncomfortable in their presence, to be honest some of them even gave _her_ the creeps, especially Ulbricht the expressionless German now attached to SG-12. The story was he had been the sole survivor on three separate UFO retrieval missions and had gone very strange as a result, he was only assigned to the SGC because even the X-COM psychiatrists who had no problem sending people with severe Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder back into battle thought he needed a break, it was the fact he seemed so unbothered by it all that worried them, he didn't even get drunk and start fights like a normal X-COM grunt would.

To the disappointment of her audience Andianov finished her training session and decided to hit the firing range after taking a shower, as she headed out she ran into Captain Griff from SG-2 who greeted her with a smile. Griff had been one of the more friendly towards the X-COM personnel generally and her in particular ever since the mission to P3X-888, it was hard not to hold a favourable opinion of a person that risked their life to save yours even if she had been wearing armour unlike he had been at the time. 'You are well Captain?' she asked.

'I'm peachy' Griff replied. 'Sorry I missed the fight in Poland, if we'd known we were needed SG-2 would have been there instead of scouting another pile of ruins somewhere in the ass-end of the galaxy' he said.

'Maybe you will get the opportunity to be killed next time' Andianov replied with a wry smile.

'Yeah this streak of bad luck I'm having has got to run out eventually' Griff joked. 'Do you know the X-Commer they've just assigned to us?' he asked. 'Lieutenant Collignon?'

'Emile yes' Andianov confirmed. 'A good soldier but he will start yelling at you in French when the situation becomes hectic' she told him. 'I found swearing back in Russian made him realise what he was doing.'

Griff grinned. 'I don't speak any Russian' he replied.

'Practice this' Andianov told him. 'Zatknis' na hui' she said.

'Zatknis' na hui' Griff repeated as best he could. 'So what does that mean?' he asked.

'Shut the fuck up' Andianov translated.

'I'll try it in English' Captain Griff decided.

'I can only guarantee the Russian version will work' Andianov told him.

-

**Area 51 – Earth – November 2000**

With Teal'c still out of action and General Hammond opting to scale back off-world activity whilst the SGC recovered from its losses Major Samantha Carter found herself with more time available for her first love, physics. Shooting at Jaffa was exciting but there was a special joy to be had from taking apart a piece of alien machinery and figuring out how it worked which she thought only Daniel could really relate too as she saw the same light in his eyes when he translated the words on the outside of an artefact as she felt when she figured out how to turn it on.

The Colonel was a great deal smarter than most people figured, though why anybody thought a man that had reached the rank of Colonel in the USAF could be as wilfully ignorant as O'Neill sometimes deliberately made out to be was amusing in itself, Carter thought as she was guided through the complex by one of the base security staff, it was obvious Jack played dumb so people underestimated him just like she suspected Teal'c sometimes pretended to be more lost in social circumstances that he really was.

Carter was greeted at the laboratory door by a familiar face and smiled. 'They've got you back at Area 51 then Radek?' she asked the Czech physicist.

'For my sins Samantha' Zelenka replied. 'I think McKay is a trial sent by God to test me' he said before dismissing the security guard and showing her inside where it was nothing but him and piles of equipment.

'He's not here is he?' Carter asked nervously, looking around like she would for concealed Goa'uld assassins.

'Fortunately he has been sent to Russia for a few weeks to assist in the work being done there on the modified Elerium Engines we plan to put on the F-302X' Zelenka replied.

'Russia?' Carter repeated. 'I didn't think X-COM had a base there?' she queried.

'It's a Russian Federation installation not X-COM' Zelewnka replied, 'the one at Yamantau some call the Russian Area 51' he said. 'It's in the Ural mountains, or perhaps under one of them would be a more accurate description' he told her. 'X-COM does not like to keep all its eggs in one basket and Russia, along with France, Britain and China are all now trying to compete for more influence by offering money and resources' he told her. 'The British are starting a second manufacturing line for nuclear warheads for our Avalanche Air-to-Air missiles at their Aldermaston facility and the French are making the missiles themselves at their Aérospatiale-Matra plant.'

'What are the Chinese offering?' Carter asked.

'Cannon fodder' Zelenka told her with a sigh. 'Unfortunately a fresh supply of what the military arm of X-COM calls "meat for the grinder" is extremely valuable to us' he said. 'Especially with our mounting losses due to the Muton's' he explained.

Carter nodded. 'I can easily imagine Beijing being more willing than the West to throw bodies at a problem' she opined. 'So how goes the research in Plasma weaponry?' she asked, half nodding towards the half-disassembled Sectoid Rifle on the nearest lab-bench.

Zelenka moved over to the device in question. 'Although it works on the same basic principles and uses some commonality of design as the Plasma Pistol we have already back-engineered the rifle here is more complex' he said, 'and the more powerful Heavy Plasma Rifle even more so' he said. 'The first problem we faced was of course that the device is rigged to only work when used by the aliens that created it themselves or else we would have simply issued the ones we have captured already to the troops' he said. 'Removing the electronic devices concerned is taking longer than for the pistol, they have a greater degree of tamper-proofing' he said.

'So what happens if you just cut the wires?' Carter asked.

'The power-cell running the electronics overloads and melts the internal components' Zelenka replied. 'And before you ask no you can't just pull the power-cell first, if you do that it explodes' he said. 'We lost a good man at the base in Japan doing that' he said regretfully.

Major Carter pursed her lips. 'So how long do you think it'll take to figure it out?' she asked.

'We are making steady progress and have many scientists working on the project' Zelenka replied, 'small teams dealing with each component simultaneously as fortunately the Sectoids design according to modular principles as we do' he said. 'It should not be too many weeks until we can copy this weapon and issue them to our soldiers.'

'How does it compare to our Laser Rifles?' Carter asked.

'It is around thirty to forty percent again as powerful' Zelenka replied, 'the larger version we have called the "Heavy" Plasma Rifle however is perhaps twice as powerful as our laser rifle in a weapon of equivalent mass' he said.

Carter shrugged. 'No need to sell me on the Heavy Plasma' she said, 'when something has shot at you with one you either die or want one of your own' she said. Watching the things put craters in concrete walls had been a sobering experience. 'So how's the Elerium supply? She asked.

'Not too bad' Zelenka replied, 'though we can only obtain it from captured alien vessels our use of your naquadah reactor for non-propulsive power generation on the Firestorms has reduced our usage to half what it would have been and during the "happy time" we built up a decent stockpile' he said.

'Happy time?' Carter asked in confusion.

Zelenka smiled. 'It is what we call the time between the introduction of the Laser Rifle and the appearance of the Muton's in large numbers' he said. 'Our UFO retrieval teams were victorious in many engagements without losing an unacceptable number of soldiers in the process' he explained. 'The rotary-staff weapon equipped HWP's and Zat'nik'tel weapons also helped enormously' he added, 'unfortunately the armour worn by the Mutons seems to offer perfect immunity from Zat fire and considerable resistance to Staff-Blasts' he told her sadly.

'We once met a bounty-hunter named Aris Boch that wore a type of armour that was Zat-proof' Carter noted. 'He looked human but must have been from a sub-species because the people of his race rejected the Goa'uld symbiote, they couldn't be used as hosts.'

'Useful trick' Zelenka remarked.

'Not so much' Carter disagreed, 'the Goa'uld wiped most of them out and addicted the others to a narcotic called roshnah to keep them subservient and not a threat' she told him.

Zelenka rolled his eyes. 'Such a nice species the Goa'uld' he said, 'I look forward to the day when we genocide their entire evil parasitic race' he declared. 'Them and Loki's vicious minions' he added then perked up. 'Have you heard the results of the latest studies into the Sectoids?' he asked.

'No I've gotten behind in my reading' Carter admitted, 'I tend to prioritise physics so the biological stuff gets put at the bottom of the pile' she admitted.

'Me too' Zelenka told her, 'biochemistry and biology are so... what's the word? "Icky" sometimes' he said.

Carter laughed. 'The three laws of science' she said, 'If it moves, it's biology' she began, 'if it smells, it's chemistry...'

'And if it doesn't work it's physics' Zelenka finished for her, grinning.

'So what's "moving" with the Sectoids then?' Carter asked, smiling back.

Zelenka picked up a file from on top of a nearby stack and opened it to a summary sheet. 'You are aware that only the higher-ranking Sectoid's can use psionics' he asked.

Carter grimaced, she still remembered the thing getting into her head. 'Yes, and it's good that they can't all do it' she stated vehemently.

'We are now certain that it is because they have an extra gene in their DNA which the ordinary Sectoids lack' Zelenka told her. 'And it appears to have been spliced in from human gene-stock' he continued, 'or at least from the genetic code of a certain population of our species' he said.

'Human DNA?' Carter queried.

'Yes' Zelenka confirmed, 'in fact identifying the gene concerned has proven to be extremely useful in our own ongoing investigations into psionics in humans' he told her. 'There actually seems to be two separate genes at work, one seems linked to psionic skill, the ability to control or influence others whilst the other is linked to what X-COM is calling psionic strength, or your ability to resist others control' he explained. 'We did wonder why some people are seemingly almost immune to psionic attack whilst others were highly susceptible to it, the "strength" gene appears to be the reason' Zelenka stated. 'Every one of the people that we've tested who could easily shrug off sectoid mental influence had the gene, on the scale of resistance we've determined, from one to a hundred, people with this gene score in the nineties.'

'Jack... I mean Colonel O'Neill resisted a telepathic attack much better than I did' Carter noted. 'I guess he's got the gene' she said thoughtfully before an idea occurred to her. 'Thor told us that one of Loki's goals was to make it possible for the Asgard to ascend, and that the presence of a gene carried by the ancients, who could ascend, was needed to work some of their technology' she said. 'Colonel O'Neill could interface with the Ancient technology on P3R-272 which downloaded data into his mind.'

Zelenka crossed his arms. 'It might be worth screening him to see how he scores on our psionic scales for both strength and skill' he said. 'I'll talk to our wetware people' he added.

'I'd like to be tested too if that's okay' Carter requested.

'Eventually everyone will be so that should not be a problem' Zelenka replied. 'I will say however that there does not appear to be any link between either of the psionic genes and intelligence, comparisons of IQ and either mental strength or skill quotients have demonstrated no correlation' he said.

Carter nodded then smiled again. 'To be honest Radek it all sounds a little like voodoo' she said with a chuckle.

'I could not agree more' Zelenka replied. 'Some of the more... free-thinking members of the group even believe that telekinesis may eventually be possible with continued research' he said with a chuckle.

'I'll believe _that_ when I see it' Carter replied, 'under laboratory conditions and after peer-reviewed study' she declared.

'My sentiments exactly Samantha' Zelenka agreed wholeheartedly.

-

**X-COM BASE TWO (North America) – November 2000**

Daniel looked through the glass screen, or rather the reinforced transparent polymer screen that separated him from the Goa'uld then held up his notes for her to read. 'And you say that your ship was the standard light cargo and transport vessel before the Tel'Tak?' he verified.

'Yes, I assume that it was phased out of use because the Hyperdrive has stability problems' Osiris replied. 'How long will I remain in this confinement?' the Goa'uld inhabiting the body of Daniels former girlfriend Sarah inquired.

'Until we develop the technology to remove you safely from the host ourselves or get an ally to do so' Daniel replied.

'I would kill the host first' Osiris replied, eyes flashing in anger.

'If you did we'd feed you into a waste disposal unit an inch at a time' Daniel stated coldly, 'if you're lucky' he continued darkly. 'If not some of the people down the corridor at Research and Development would vivisect you completely conscious and fully aware of what was going on as they fed you into the spinning blades just to monitor how much it hurt with the electrodes they'll have stuck in your itsy bitsy brain.'

'You're bluffing' Osiris replied with a sneer.

'No, I was actually quoting one of them' Daniel replied honestly, 'they regard the Goa'uld around here like they do one of the things in the next cell but one called chrysallids' he said. 'That's not too highly' he explained redundantly. 'You're just another human-infesting alien parasite, they don't care that you're self-aware and capable of reason.'

'And _you_ care for my wellbeing I suppose?' Osiris asked sarcastically.

'Less than I care for Sarah's, a _lot_ less' Daniel replied, 'but I'm not hypocritical enough to think to put zero value on the life of a sentient, sapient alien lifeform but still think my species is special anyway' he said. 'By cooperating you're helping yourself, you may be thousands of years out of the loop but Goa'uld society and technology has only moved glacially over that period so you've got information that still has value' he said. 'Many of the same System Lords still rule and I doubt their personalities or methods have shifted too much' he said then smiled at how Jack might have put it. 'If you want to save your own ass you'll rat out your people.'

'You would think I would betray my race to help preserve my own life?' Osiris asked with another sneer.

'Yes, every time, it's a racial failing' Daniel opined. 'Only the Tok'ra have any notion of self-sacrifice for the collective whole, the rest of you are self-serving, egomaniacal, megalomaniacs who've spent so long pretending to be God's some of you are crazy enough to start believing it.'

'The Tok'ra?' Osiris said with a snort of derision. 'Deviants born from a genetically or mentally defective Queen who passed on her weakness to her offspring' Osiris replied. 'I would not have believed my kind could fall so far until you told me of them' the Goa'uld stated. 'I slept in that canopic jar too long, if myself and my Queen Isis had been in a position of power during the early stages of the Tok'ra treason we would have helped Ra crush them.'

'The Goa'uld have been trying to crush the Tok'ra for two thousand years' Daniel replied, 'somehow I don't see _you_ doing much better' he said.

'When my fellow Goa'uld come, conquer this world and liberate me I will personally lead a crusade against the turncoats' Osiris declared haughtily.

Daniel laughed. 'Sorry but if the Goa'uld do come you're shit out of luck anyway because this base is designed to pump nerve gas into the cells, then microwave them and finally we're sitting on a thermonuclear self-destruct system' he told Osiris. 'You were unconscious thanks to a stun rod when they bought you here but there's a sign on the door to the Alien Containment block, abandon hope all ye who enter here' he said.

'Dante's Divine Comedy' Osiris noted, Sarah Gardner the host had read the book so the Goa'uld was fully versed in the work.

'We're underground' Daniel noted, 'It's the seventh level of hell for hostile aliens' he said.

Osiris smirked. 'As traitors the Tok'ra should be held even lower, on the ninth level' the Goa'uld declared.

'But they're out there and you're in here' Daniel reminded Osiris, 'that's pretty funny really, an alien parasite pretending to be a God kept under lock and key by us self-professed mortals' he said, 'Now _that's _divine comedy.'

'When I escape you will see what I am capable of' the Goa'uld thundered.

Daniel laughed at the bluster. 'Good luck with that' he said. 'You're living on borrowed time and at our sufferance' he continued flatly. 'I've seen some of the plans of this place you can't get out' he said tapping on the thick plastic that separated them, 'and I hate to break it to you but if you're thinking there's anyone else that will help you you're deluded' he stated. 'There's no followers of yours left on this planet so if you're expecting a band of lost Goa'uld worshippers to spring you from this facility think again, your name is nothing more than a ancient myth' he told the creature infesting a woman he still cared about.

This time it was Daniel's turn to look smug. 'Trust me' he said, 'the Cult of Osiris isn't coming' he announced confidently.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_In X-COM the "Cult of Sirius" was a religion with pro-Alien sympathies that became an increasing problem for X-COM as the series continued._

_There was a Cult of Osiris in Ancient Egypt which was obsessed with immortality as it __happens, and the star Sirius was associated with Isis (the wife and sister of Osiris). Set was Osiris brother and killed him by sealing him in a coffin, Isis found the coffin and bought him back to life using a spell. __Sound's very Goa'uld-like doesn't it_ ;-)

_Incidentally XSGCOM has by far the highest number of people with an alert set for new chapters of any fic I have on the site... a few more reviews would be nice too because reviews attract more readers which is kinda the point of posting it here. Help a writer out okay :-p_


	9. Chapter 9

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**-**

**Planet Juna - P2X-729 – February 2001 **

Concealed at the edge of the forest with the others Colonel Jack O'Neill lowered his binoculars. 'They used to pay the crew of navy ships a share of the value of any enemy vessels they boarded and took off the enemy' he said. 'I don't suppose we can resurrect that tradition?' he asked.

Commander Sharp shook his head. 'They'd never go for it back home' he opined. 'Can you imagine the market value of a Goa'uld Ha'tak?' he queried, looking at the huge spaceship landed on top of the pyramid nearby. 'Anyhow it would set a precedent, do you know how many Sectoid ships X-COM has retrieved?' he asked rhetorically.

'We could see if the UN would give us a Letter of Marque to go out and practice interstellar privateering' Daniel suggested. 'I'd look good in a bandana' he declared.

'If I hear a single one of you say "avast", "arr matey" or "yo ho ho" when we get aboard that thing I'll have you shot' Commander Sharp declared.

'Shouldn't that be keelhauled or hung from the yardarm Sir?' Major Carter asked sweetly.

'Just don't get hurt' Sharp replied.

'Aye aye sir' O'Neill responded, 'alright bucko's let's take ourselves a prize vessel' he said, putting on his best pirate accent.

'I could always resurrect another fine naval tradition Colonel' Commander Sharp stated.

'Rum ration?' O'Neill asked hopefully.

'The Cat O' Nine Tails' Sharp replied flatly.

'I still think I'd look good in a bandana' Daniel noted.

Although the planets naquadah mines were exhausted beyond the point at which the Goa'uld would bother with them, strategically P2X-729, known to its inhabitants as Juna, lay at a point where it was a useful staging area in the war Cronus and his ally Terok were waging against Apophis. In fact it might have been occupied as a buffer against him even the System Lords hadn't already been at each others throats. However just because the mines weren't economically viable for a society which utilised slave labour, picks and shovels to dig up ore, and which had far richer and more easily exploitable mines elsewhere, they were still worthwhile to a culture that had rather more sophisticated mining technology and couldn't yet afford to be as fussy regarding the quality of the ore.

As more and more naquadah-based weaponry and other technology was put into service by the Tau'ri in their wars against both the Goa'uld and the Sectoids they increasingly required continual supplies of the mineral. Following the visit of the Harcesis Child, and the resumption of contact with Abydos, Ra's old mines there were about to go back into production, although this time the workers there would be paid instead of terrorised to motivate them. Tau'ri mining engineers and troops were also on P3R-636 after Daniel had negotiated a mutually beneficial arrangement with the planets leader Princess Shyla who to his embarrassment apparently still carried something of a torch for him and who told him that although her long, painful period of sarcophagus withdrawal had seemed unbearable at the time she was grateful he had given her the strength to go through it.

SG1 had once helped the people of Juna overthrow the forces of Heru'er and told them to bury the stargate after they left, this did not help them when Cronus arrived by ship but then he himself made the unwitting mistake of digging it back up so when the SGC dialled P2X-729 again in the hope SG1's advice had been ignored so they could access the old mines for a proper evaluation of their potential they not only found they could establish a wormhole, to their surprise they found the Goa'uld were back in charge.

With their alien-alloy body armour and now all armed with the L2A2 model Laser Rifle with its integral Zat the Tau'ri soldiers of SG-2 sent to investigate had easily overpowered and neutralised the mixed Jaffa and local militia now sworn to Cronus who challenged them once they came through the gate. Interrogation of the local militia leader Darian quickly revealed the situation and the recently promoted Major Griff contacted the SGC for instructions.

The answer had been forthcoming quickly along with Commander Sharp, SG-1 and several other teams, X-COM policy was clear in these situations, they might not necessarily consider liberating Juna again a high priority but as soon as SG-2 informed them there was an Alien Ship on the ground SOP was to retrieve it. A Hat'ak might be orders of magnitude larger than a Sectoid Scout but nobody could accuse X-COM of a lack of ambition and most importantly thanks to the war with Apophis the ship only had a skeleton crew with the majority of the thousand or so Jaffa it might usually be carrying deployed to the front.

Disguising themselves as locals using the clothes and weapons taken from the stunned militia and using a supposedly captured SG1 as bait getting into the pyramid was easy, Cronus himself wasn't on the ship, he had departed on another vessel shortly after seizing the world and was now with the majority of his fleet fighting Apophis, however his servant Cindar commanding both the Hat'ak and the occupation of Juna was more than pleased that he was going to be able to present his Lord and Master with a gift such as the shol'va Teal'c and the insolent Tau'ri known as O'Neill.

Trying not to smirk Commander Sharp dressed in native clothes dropped to one knee. 'Hail Cindar loyal servant of Cronus' he said head bowed. 'I bring you the traitor Teal'c and the rest of the Tau'ri known as SG-1' he said.

Cindar looked at the Jaffa Traitor and the uniformed humans all bound each with one of the local militia stood behind them with zat'nik'tels ready. 'You have done well' he said, 'I have not met you before' he added.

'I am Russ, cousin of Darian who commands the warriors of Juna in the service of Cronus' Sharp said, trying to sound convincing. 'I captured these intruders and my cousin said that if I and my men presented them to you we would be rewarded for our loyalty' he said. 'These were their weapons' he added indicating the small pile of L2A2 Laser Rifles and a mix of Beretta's and Laser Pistols he had placed on the deck in front of Cindar as soon as they arrived.

Cindar nodded. 'You have served your God well' he said. 'I will mention this to My Lord Cronus and he will surely shower you with rewards for such dedication' he added.

'Thank you' Sharp told him. 'May I request one thing instead?' he asked.

'Slaves, riches?' Cindar asked, it was good policy to reward the troops for a job well done, it helped encourage others to emulate their example.

Sharp raised his head and looked around, there were some six Jaffa in the chamber though none looked ready for immediate action. 'I've always wanted a ship like this, can I have it?' he queried then grinned.

'What?' Cindar asked then his face turned to horror as the militia warriors turned and fired their Zat guns at the Jaffa catching them totally off-guard.

Teal'c instantly charged forward and simply crashed into Cindar knocking him flying before he could raise the alarm. One of the disguised X-COM soldiers then stunned him with his zat as another began to cut the bonds holding SG-1.

'Was that really the best line you could come up with Commander, "I've always wanted a ship like this"?' O'Neill asked as the leather strap tying his hands together was cut and he stepped forward to reach down and pick up a Laser Rifle. 'You've got to learn to taunt the Goa'uld and their people better' he opined.

'Throws them off their game?' Sharp queried.

'Yeah but annoying them is mainly the end in itself' O'Neill told him. 'Major Griff should be attacking the Jaffa at the pyramid any second' he said checking his watch.

Sharp nodded then looked around. 'I want the Jaffa on this thing cleaned out' he ordered. 'Stun them if you can, no need to kill more than necessary and they might have useful intel, but if it's you or them burn a hole in the bastards' he ordered. 'Major Carter take Sergeant Andianov and secure the engine room, Colonel O'Neill you and Teal'c take the bridge.'

'If laid out like a standard Ha'tak the ships armoury should be nearby and en-route to both destinations' Teal'c replied as his own bonds were cut. 'We can obtain shock-grenades to make the task easier' he advised as they prepared to head out.

Commander Sharp looked around and remembered a line from one of his favourite films. 'Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him' he said with a grin.

'Somebody better tell the Sectoids they're going to need a bigger boat' O'Neill replied.

-

**Canadian Airspace – Earth – February 2001 **

Despite the addition of the navigation computer linked directly to his brain through the interface built into his helmet, most of the flight controls on the Firestorm had been designed to be as familiar as possible and Cameron Mitchell always enjoyed the experience of slamming the throttles on the elerium powered engines to full military power when he was hunting a UFO.

Utilising an inertial dampening system back-engineered from a Goa'uld Deathglider as well as Sectoid drive technology the Firestorm was a truly awesome machine to fly. It could maintain accelerations that should turn the pilot to paste, it had manoeuvrability best described as beyond extreme and with its Asgard modified Sectoid shield technology, X-COM Laser Cannon and a trio of naquadah-enhanced variable yield Air-to-Air missiles it punched far beyond its weight class.

What it couldn't do however was catch the damn Sectoid Battleship which it was currently chasing through the night sky, despite Mitchell pushing everything he could into the engines. One decent thermonuclear smackdown with an Avalanche would send it spiralling to the ground, and the Firestorm's shields could survive one hit from its beam weapon making closing to firing range not necessarily suicidal, but with a top speed in the atmosphere of "only" Mach 6.35 the smaller saucer-shaped X-COM simply didn't have the power to catch a type of craft which had been frequently clocked at over Mach 7.5 as he chased it from the artic circle right across Alberta heading for the US Border.

'He's playing with me' Mitchell growled, both for the benefit of his flight recorder and out of frustration. 'Just slow down a few more hundred knots and I'll shoot a nuke up your ass and then we'll see who's laughing' he vowed.

With a Firestorm now operating out of every X-COM base and a handful of others based at Cheyenne Mountain, Area-51 and Yamantau Earth could now successfully defend itself against any of the smaller, slower Sectoid UFO designs, indeed the enemy now rarely deployed them since they were nothing but Firestorm fodder, but Battleships and the so-called Harvesters were appearing in greater and greater numbers, the latter often being re-tasked to missions previously undertaken by the slower Abductor Class UFO's. Humans were still being kidnapped and experimented upon and X-COM was more than pissed about it, once the faster even more capable F-302X was bought into service they'd sweep the skies of Earth free of alien trash but until then it was up to the Firestorm Interceptors and their pilots to do the best they can.

'Son-of-a-bitch is heading right down our throats' Mitchell realised, the ship certainly now seemed to be vectoring itself directly towards X-COM's North American base further south. The complex would have seen this too and its defences would now be powering up, not only the battery of Russian-supplied S-300 Surface-to-Air Missiles but they should have their new Laser Cannon operational now too, the large ground-based Directed-Energy-Weapon weapon inordinately more powerful than the one carried in the Firestorms second bay. 'When you slow down to land I'm going to catch you' Mitchell said, as if taunting a child. He wouldn't use an Avalanche set to high-yield anywhere near an X-COM base but a smaller single kiloton explosion would soften the thing up nicely for the base defences.

Thanks to being gradually re-equipped with back-engineered alien Plasma-Rifles the situation had recently slightly improved for X-COM ground-pounders when they managed to get to a landed UFO before it took off, but although more powerful than the L2A2 Laser Rifles the X-COM P2A1 Plasma Rifle, which came with an integrated Zat like its predecessor, was still inferior to the Heavy Plasma Rifle the enemy now carried almost universally, and losses amongst X-COM retrieval teams were still high. The big advantage with the P2A1 was that it didn't always require multiple hits to bring down a Muton soldier, or at least not as many as a Laser Rifle, so the number of human soldiers being killed after getting off the first shots in a firefight had dropped. A Plasma Rifle was simply better at killing or badly wounding the dangerous foe than the Laser which all too often merely seemed to make the genetically and surgically enhanced creature _extremely_ pissed off. If aliens did get inside the base they'd receive a very warm reception especially since after the attack on X-COM Europe internal base defences including Rotary Staff Weapon and Laser Cannon armed HWP's were placed to defend the entry points.

'_Interceptor Foxtrot-Sierra X-Ray-Three this is Interceptor Control_' a voice announced over the radio breaking Mitchell away from his thoughts, '_you are advised to darken your canopy, lower your sun visor and be ready to break off pursuit immediately. Over_' it instructed.

The accompanying transponder code read as genuine so Mitchell flicked the switch which polarised the canopy and lowered the visor on his flight helmet. Maybe there was another interceptor on the way from Cheyenne or Area-51 he thought? This was SOP if you were about to witness a nuclear explosion, those things were bad for the eyesight especially at night and unprepared. Mitchell also closed one eye just in case, better safe than sorry.

They were seventy-five thousand feet up and two hundred and twenty-five kilometres over the US border, still both going at hypersonic velocity with the UFO leading Mitchell by approximately seventy kilometres staying beyond missile range when the Interceptor Pilot saw a massive ball of energy, blinding bright in the darkness, come hurtling from the sky above and impact directly with the UFO blowing it into tiny fragments. 'What the fuck?' Mitchell swore, that wasn't a nuke, and it wasn't a Sectoid Plasma Beam either, if anything it reminded him of a Goa'uld Staff-Weapon blast he'd seen demonstrated at Area-51, only many orders of magnitude greater in scale.

'_He shoots he scores_!' a strangely familiar and triumphant voice roared from the radio on the X-COM Channel. '_Hey are you guys tracking any more of those things? Over_' it asked.

'_This is Interceptor Control, be advised we have another UFO inbound over the Atlantic heading for Morocco. Over_' came the reply.

'_Roger interceptor control_' the voice replied, '_Carter point this thing East_' it continued the voice slightly muffled as if the speaker had turned away from the microphone '_Interceptor Control you keep telling us where they are and we'll keep smashing them. SG-1 Out_'

Cameron Mitchell could only hope that somebody back at base could tell him what the hell was going on. The idea of gigantic Sectoid-Smashing balls of plasma falling from the sky like the wrath of God was a pleasing one but deep down he was also hoping that he hadn't just been put out of a job as he flew his Firestorm home.

Hundreds of kilometres above and now heading towards the Atlantic as fast as its sub-light engines could carry it the Goa'uld built Hat'ak, which had only dropped out of hyperspace a few minutes before, started to hunt for its next prey. Although in some ways more technologically advanced the sheer disparity in size between a Sectoid built "Battleship" seventy-five metres in diameter and a true Capital Ship like a six-hundred metre wide Hat'ak meant that the former was not remotely built to take the kind of punishment the main guns of the latter could put out, especially in the atmosphere where the Sectoid vessel couldn't use its deflector shields and could only rely on its armoured hull for protection.

Utilising Faster-Than-Light Hyperwave communications Sectoid craft near Earth began to warn of the new threat and planned missions were scrubbed as they waited for new orders. They were going to have to adjust tactics and perhaps start to dust off the more advanced equipment they had been keeping back for fear of attracting the notice of the Asgard.

The cloned Legions of Loki were not going to let a minor setback like this dissuade them from their mission, they had been created to save the Asgard race from eventual extinction and fight the likes of the Replicators, a few evolved apes and some stolen second-rate technology wasn't going to stop them.

Elsewhere in the Solar System, within a vast underground base, an Asgard designed computer containing a copy of Loki's consciousness issued instructions to begin constructing pre-production models of the Hyperspace capable Type 1 Aerospace Superiority Fighter that was designed to be far more than a match for the new human Firestorm. Meanwhile preliminary designs for the even better Type 2 were being finalised for the prototype stage and those of the larger Type 3 Strike Fighter were gradually taking shape.

Capital Ships can be extremely capable but what they can't do is be in two places at once like a multitude of small craft can. Loki didn't care about losing a few hundred or thousand clones, they were disposable cannon-fodder designed to throw at the Replicator hordes. The Muton's were designed to be the ultimate infantry but he had other creations in mind, new genetically and cybernetically enhanced creatures designed to be the ultimate fighter pilots, just grow them in vats, surgically implant the technology and put them in a cockpit.

And the humans hadn't even seen the product of his experiments with the combining of genetic material from some of their own race with that stemming from the research done by that overrated, squeamish, sorry excuse for a scientist Heimdall as yet the computer thought smugly.

-

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – March 2001**

'You're making a mistake Commander' Jacob Carter insisted, rising from his chair and leaning against the conference table. 'The Tok'ra can be of great assistance in helping you get to grips with the technology on that ship and all we ask is to borrow it for a few days' he said wishing he only had to deal with George Hammond and not the X-COM jerk sat next to him as the three met to discuss the Tok'ra request to make use of a certain large item that had just come into Earth's possession.

'We can figure that thing out on our own thanks' Sharp replied confidently. 'We've already got teams crawling all over it.'

'You're underestimating just how far ahead Goa'uld technology is ahead of Earths' Jacob declared.

'And _you_ are seriously underestimating the ability of X-COM to figure out alien technology' Sharp replied. 'The guys with the high IQ's tell me that most of the basic scientific principles at work in that Ha'tak are the same as for the ship we got from Osiris back in September and I bet we're already a lot further down the road in figuring that thing out than you give us credit for' he stated.

'So you'll be able to make a second rate copy of the hyperdrive in ten years...' Jacob began dismissively.

'Improved version up to modern Tel'tak standards in another two months at the outside' Sharp interrupted.

Jacob's eyes flashed as Selmak took over. 'Impossible' the symbiote declared.

'Yeah, impossible takes us about six months, stuff that's only really difficult like back-engineering the sarcophagus that came with the Ha'tak they reckon two or three at the outside' Commander Sharp replied.

In fact the main problem now facing XSGCOM was that they simply had too many possible avenues of research and were forced to prioritise some at the expense of others. The ongoing research into Sectoid Plasma Weapons was high priority since the grunts needed Heavy Plasma Rifles to compete and the fighter-jocks wanted Plasma Cannon for the Interceptors, similarly the F-302X program was absorbing a great deal of resources and money as it was rushed through to replace the Firestorms so that limited the amount of work being done on planned alien technology based fighter-transports to replace the Skyranger VSTOLS in the role of carrying UFO Retrieval Teams to action.

More esoteric notions such as Powered Armour for the troops was shelved for now, along with elerium-powered flying Heavy Weapon Platforms for fire-support, the Psionic program only continued apace because so many of the scientists involved were too specialised to be effectively transferred to other projects.

'Can't you help me here George?' Jacob asked his old freind as Selmak stepped aside once more.

'Sorry Jacob, in other circumstances I might have argued your case for the sake of the alliance with the Tok'ra but we need that ship in orbit to keep the Sectoid's off our ass' Hammond replied. 'They stopped showing up as soon as the Ha'tak arrived and it's giving us breathing space' he explained. 'The Hat'ak sensors have a lot of trouble detecting Sectoid ships at long range, and you can only get a target lock at a few hundred miles, but we can vector the ship to the right coordinates using ground-based Radar' he said.

'The Sectoid ships can't outrun a Firestorm if they're going much under Mach 7 in the atmosphere and at that speed they can't manoeuvre anywhere near as well as they can at lower speed' Sharp noted. 'They can slow down to try and dodge the Ha'tak's guns but if they do they get caught by the Interceptor' he said. 'Even a few weeks with no, or at least a minimal number of missions will get X-COM back to full field strength after our losses' he announced. 'We're feeding our wounded into the sarcophagus, bought it down in a shuttle bay, and we're even calling back the personnel who we thought were too badly injured to ever see action again' he continued. 'Once we get plasma-cannon armed Reapers into service we might think about letting our new toy out for a spin around the galaxy but until then Earths great big trump card stays right over our head where we can use it to club uninvited guests.'

'Reapers?' Jacob queried.

'F-302X _Grim Reaper_' Sharp explained, 'a whole lot nastier than an F-22 _Raptor_' he added. 'It'll scythe through Goa'uld Deathgliders like Death himself is pissed at them taking his name in vain' he declared with certainty, he'd seen the design specifications.

'You should beware of using the sarcophagus' Jacob warned.

'We know the psychological side-effects, it'll only be used sparingly, half of X-COM is nuts enough already' Commander Sharp replied with a grin. 'What we're really after is a few more Goa'uld Healing Devices, the ones that fit on your hand' he said. 'Between those and our medikits we should be able to keep our battlefield casualties alive long enough to get them to the sarcophagus even if they're shot all to hell' he continued. 'You can't borrow the Ha'tak but we'll swap technology with you for them.'

'Such as?' Jacob asked.

'For a start the sectoids have this gadget we call a mind-probe, it's a hell of a lot more effective and portable than one of your za'tarc detectors' Sharp replied. 'They cost us over a quarter million dollars apiece to manufacture and use materials we can only obtain from the aliens so don't think they're going to be cheap' he told him. 'We used the technology to improve our interrogation techniques.'

'They call it "Mind Rape" if I recall correctly' Hammond interjected disapprovingly.

'We've got captured Plasma Pistols, we don't use them because our Laser Rifles are better overall, but they're more powerful and accurate than a Staff-Weapon and a lot more concealable' Sharp continued unabated. 'Handy if your agents need to shoot their way out of a situation' he said enticingly. 'Plus we know you use security people to defend your bases, we can do a deal on Laser Rifles with built-in Zat's and body-armour that'll stop a staff-blast almost every time.'

'The rifles and armour provide a serious edge over Jaffa Troops' Hammond agreed.

'In return for Healing Devices?' Jacob questioned.

'And any other Goa'uld technology you have that we either don't or haven't had the time to figure out yet' Sharp replied. 'If you supplied a scientist to speed up our R&D work with the Ha'tak we'd give you a hell of a discount on any new equipment we get our hands on in future.'

'I thought you didn't _need_ our help?' Jacob asked sardonically.

'We _don't_ it'll just speed things up' Sharp responded. 'For one thing the fact our physics geeks can't read Egyptian Hieroglyphs is a pain in the ass to start with' he admitted. 'Look I know the Tok'ra don't see us as equals but this alliance is going to be on a more even keel from now on' he said. 'You've got access to Intel we don't and a leg-up on Goa'uld tech, we've got Sectoid Tech you can get a lot of use out of and we bust heads even better than you play with them with your plots and mind-games' he continued. 'The Tok'ra/Tau'ri dynamic is going to change from here on in, you can cut out the "we know best" bullshit because it's getting old fast and we already get enough of that condescending paternalistic crap from the Asgard as far as I'm concerned' he opined.

Jacob sighed. 'You're heading for a fall Commander' he responded, shaking his head sadly.

'Freefall maybe, I'm catching a ride on a captured Deathglider up to the Hat'ak tomorrow' Sharp replied with a smile. 'The flight bays weren't full but we got over a dozen of the things along with the ship, we're going to refit them with our Laser Cannon as an interim aerospace fighter until the Reapers are ready' he said. 'Handy for an aggressor squadron against the Firestorms too' he added. 'We're putting a set of rings into the SGC so we can teleport up to the ship in future but until then we're shuttling back and forth in the Deathgliders.'

'You're risking attention you don't want' Jacob warned.

'From the Goa'uld?' Sharp responded dismissively. 'They're busy fighting each other and I'm already planning more missions through the stargate aimed at weakening Apophis and stopping him crushing Cronus and Terok' he said. 'You know the other System Lords won't stand by forever, they'll deal themselves into the war against Apophis because they either fight him or kneel to him and too many of them won't do that.' 

Jacob couldn't help but agree to some extent. 'We have heard rumours from within the camps of both Lord Yu and Olokun that they are on the verge of joining the war, but even their forces won't stem the tide of Apophis's armies very long' he said.

'Every day the Goa'uld are too busy fighting each other to worry about this backwater is another day we have to get ready for when they turn up' Sharp replied. 'They're getting weaker with each battle and we're getting stronger with each new piece of technology.'

'There's not enough time to close the gap' Jacob told him.

'We'll see' Sharp replied, unflustered by the possibility the Tok'ra might be right.

-

* * *

_Note from the Author:_

_Episodes 4:17 - 4:20 occured roughly the same way in this timeline so I skipped over them jumping a few months ahead.In this universe Apophis and his fleet aren't destroyed at the end of Season 4/ start of Season 5 which isn'tquite the bad result it may appear at first glance... Anubis is coming and this time he's going to face decent opposition from within the Goa'uld ranks!_

_For those largelyunfamiliar with the X-COM franchise, after the first two alien wars on Earth in 1999-2002 (X-COM: UFO Defence)and 2041-2046 (X-COM: Terror from the Deep)humanity eventually gets FTL travel and heads for the stars. In 2067 they then get involved in the Third Alien War (X-COM: Interceptor)where humans and aliens duel for control of a mineral richstar cluster in squadrons ofaerospacefighters. I'm just kicking off that part of the ongoing war several decades early because in this universe humankind is ahead of where they should be because of Goa'uld tech._

_The basic idea in XSGCOMis that the Sectoids already have most of the technology they used in the 2060's they're just wary of using their more advanced equipment for fear the Asgard will detect them. If I didn't give them this edge then they'd be whupped silly by hybrid Earth/Sectoid/Goa'uld weapon systems like the F-302X and that wouldn't be much of a challenge._

_The idea of a copy of Loki's conciousness being inside a computer is a merging of the two stories. In X-COM the first Alien Invasion was masterminded by an AI and we know from several storylines inSG-1that you can download a person's mindto a computer in that universe. Loki just left it behind to run the campaign in Earth's Solar System while he himself was busy elsewhere._

_Hope you're enjoying the story, suggestions as well as reviews are welcome. I'm still not certain what I'm going to call the captured Ha'tak (the XSS Enterprise is popular in some quarters :-p ) but if anyone can suggest an alternativeone, and give a good reason to back it up, they might see their suggestion in the Fic._


	10. Chapter 10

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**-**

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – April 2001 **

Commander Sharp crossed his arms, he was glad he'd decided to make this a one-to-one in his office because it meant he could be strident without having Colonel O'Neill stepping in. 'Let me get this straight' he began, 'this Orlin guy escaped through a stargate he made by himself in a few days with some titanium, a couple of hundred feet of optical fibre, a few industrial capacitors.. and a toaster?' he queried.

'Among other things' Major Carter replied, 'it's completely burned out now' she noted.

'I should have you thrown into a containment cell for helping him get away' Sharp growled.

'With respect Sir I don't think the usual X-COM interrogation techniques would have worked on an ascended being, and if they had his people probably wouldn't have let us develop any technology we obtained from him by force, they destroyed Velona because those people tried to use the weapons Orlin gave them to defend themselves against the Goa'uld against others' she noted.

Sharp narrowed his eyes. 'Have you considered the possibility that this Orlin character had you under some form of mind control?' he asked. 'I've seen your PSI testing results' he said, 'you might be smart as hell but you've got some of the lowest resistance to psionic influence of anyone we've checked so far' he noted.

Carter bristled at that, what was worse was just how damn high Colonel O'Neill had scored in the same test, it was something to do with certain genes some people had and others didn't. 'Sir I've had my brain hijacked by a Tok'ra symbiote and I've been under psionic attack by a Sectoid, I might not be able to fight it off but I know what it feels like to get played like that' she stated. 'Orlin was telepathic, he told me he read my mind and it was probably that what knocked me out when we first arrived on P3X-636, but he wasn't controlling me' she said with certainty. 'It might have been centuries of loneliness but.. he said he loved me and I believed him.'

'Jesus Christ, why couldn't he have gotten a crush on Andianov instead?' Sharp muttered to himself, 'she'd have ganked him with a stun rod and dragged his over-evolved ass to alien containment before he could start reciting love poetry.'

'Orlin didn't recite.. Carter began then stopped when Sharp glared at her. 'He was a nice guy' she said quietly, looking at the floor.

Commander Sharp closed his eyes counted to ten to calm back down then sighed. 'If you were X-COM I'd tell you need to get drunk, or laid, or ideally both' he told her. 'Look if you want to get back in my good graces I want you to help identify everything Orlin purchased with your credit card and every household appliance he cannibalised to make that stargate' he said. 'The only people we know apart from the Ancients who can make a stargate themselves are the Tollan, and they got help from the Nox, so even if they're a one-shot deal if we can reproduce that technology we'll have a hell of an edge over the Goa'uld.'

'It's probably way beyond us' Carter told him doubtfully. 'Even the Tollan are centuries more advanced than we are and the Nox may be on a par with the Ancients or the Asgard.'

'Major once you know something _can_ be done you're a long way towards doing it yourself' Sharp reminded her. 'If he could McGuyver together an entire stargate from a few thousand dollars worth of stuff freely available on the open market we might have been drastically overrating how hard it is to master wormhole technology' he said. 'Anyway we have actual naquadah to make it out of not a substitute like titanium so we're already a step up' he reasoned.

Carter pursed her lips. 'We could always talk to the Tollan again' she suggested. 'They didn't want to give us any of their technology but we've got technology we can offer in trade now like we did with the Tok'ra' she noted. 'Dad saw the benefit of the deal and with Selmak they talked around the rest of the High Council' she continued, 'maybe we can get a foot in the door with the Tollan Curia now too?'

Sharp nodded, he wasn't a great fan of the Tollan, they had repeatedly called Earth "primitive" when he visited there a few months back which annoyed the crap out of him, but they were a lot better than the Nox as far as he was concerned. At least the Tollan backed up their non-interventionist neutral stance with batteries of Ha'tak smashing Ion Cannons unlike the Nox hippies who preferred to hide, hold hands, wish for the best and sing kumbaya. 'Good idea, I'll see if we can put together a package of our latest R&D and then we'll visit them again' he said.

'They don't have very good hyperdrive technology, the Tollan I mean,' Carter pointed out, 'when we first met them we were told it would take a lifetime to travel between Tollana and Earth in one of their ships which makes them slower than even the older Goa'uld drives, maybe we could offer them our research in that area' she suggested.

'Makes you wonder why they didn't just capture a Ha'tak or Tel'tak of their own and back-engineer it?' Sharp pondered. 'They're more than capable with their superior weaponry and phase-shifting technology.'

'The Tollan don't think like us Sir' Carter replied, 'as long as you leave them alone they leave you alone, they aren't great explorers, they're mainly isolationists' she said.

'Hypocritical bastards too' Sharp opined, 'they wouldn't give Earth access to their technology because it was more advanced but they were happy to accept help from the Nox to make that gate of theirs' he said. 'Hey that's an angle we can use, they've already tacitly accepted that trading stargate technology between races of differing technological development is acceptable because _they've_ done it' he realised.

Carter raised her eyebrows, that was a better idea than she might have expected from Commander Sharp, he was normally the type to resort to violence before legal argument. 'Politically and legally the Tollan are pretty progressive and we know they let non-Tollan access to their courts' she said. 'If we don't get anywhere with the Curia we could try and bring a Civil Action to overturn the decision using the precedent you just mentioned.'

'Maybe just reminding the Curia we could will help sway their opinions' Sharp responded, 'we're not asking for a handout, we'll be offering a trade' he noted. 'And once we've got our foot in the door on the stargate issue it'll make future negotiations easier because we'll have set another precedent that its okay to trade tech between us.'

'Stargate technology today, Ion Cannon's tomorrow?' Carter replied with a smile.

'We'll offer to upgrade theirs once we've improved the design' Sharp replied with a grin. 'Maybe do a deal for phase-shifting tech.'

'We could suggest a permanent UN Embassy on Tollana' Carter said thoughtfully.

'Hey diplomats we can do' Sharp replied, 'plus we could maybe get an agreement for a ceremonial military presence, as an Embassy it'll be legally Tau'ri territory right?'

'Ceremonial?' Carter questioned with a very Teal'c-like raised eyebrow.

'Okay not all _that_ ceremonial' Sharp responded with a wry smile. 'They nearly got their asses kicked before because of complacency and only survived because of SG-1 and the Nox, if we've got boots on the ground and some X-COM firepower in place maybe we can keep an eye on them' he said. 'They have the hardware but not the military mindset to back it up' he opined. 'The Tollan are the most advanced human civilisation we know of, that makes them an asset worth protecting.'

'Us protecting the Tollan?' Carter asked rhetorically with a chuckle.

'Even if only from themselves Major' Sharp replied then after a few seconds he grimaced, 'damn it I'm talking like one of those self-righteous paternalistic jerks like the Asgard or Tok'ra' he moaned.

Carter laughed. 'Thinking of the Tok'ra what do you think about our new guest scientist?' she asked.

'I think we're not going to get much productive work out of our male engineers and technicians poking around that Ha'tak if we've got her wandering around it in that outfit she arrived through the stargate in' Sharp replied flatly.

'I can see Anise being.. eye-catching' Carter responded carefully.

'I think it's a dirty Tok'ra trick to slow down our R&D work by distracting all the labcoat wearing, Dungeons and Dragons playing, Trekkie geeks we employ' Sharp declared only half in jest.

'I guess they've learned something from two thousand years of undermining the System Lords by subtle means instead of brute force' Carter responded, trying to keep a straight face.

'Sneaky, underhanded bastards' Sharp muttered. 

-

**Stargate – Planet P7S-441 – April 2001 **

'God damn it they just keep coming' O'Neill yelled over the sound of continual staff-blasts, mostly poorly aimed due to the piss-poor ergonomics of the weapons but what they lacked in accuracy they were making up for in volume. 'Carter get that Mighty MALP running' he ordered as SG-1 dug in tighter amongst the rocks near to the stargate. The hordes of Jaffa they'd met here seemed to be inexhaustible, the forests were full of them.

'I'm working on it Sir' Major Carter replied, trying to reboot the control system on the armed and armoured robot probe which had preceded them through the stargate and which was now positioned nearby. A fluke hit from a staff had knocked its systems off-line which was why it wasn't currently kicking serious Jaffa ass. Although she was using the thing as cover Carter's job wasn't helped by the fact that she was being shot at while trying to work, it was hard to keep your mind on the task at hand when blasts of plasma were whizzing past your head.

Taking partial cover behind a pile of rocks Andianov on the left flank yelled something in Russian as she gunned down yet another Jaffa unfortunate enough to stick his head out in the open where she could see it, between her reflexes, marksmanship and the pin-point accuracy of her Laser Rifle the X-COM Sergeant was quickly racking up kills. 'English Sergeant, speak English' O'Neill yelled at her.

'Sorry Colonel' Andianov yelled back. 'Come on you fuckers' she repeated, roughly translating her previous phrase for his benefit. She was usually more subdued and clinical than this even during hostile action, unfortunately for the enemy she was cranky with PMS and they had presented a welcome opportunity for stress relief.

'You told her' Daniel pointed out to O'Neill, as he fired his own rifle repeatedly giving suppressive fire. The rifles had been upgraded with the powerpack design provided by SG-1's robot duplicates on Harlan's World and were now good for up to five hundred shots from a full charge.

Off to the far right Teal'c rolled on his side to a slightly better position where he could lay down a crossfire and keep the Jaffa pinned down away from the gate while Major Carter worked. He alternated laser and zat fire from his rifle as targets presented themselves. The former First Prime of Apophis was becoming increasingly fond of his L2A2, it was truly a fearsomely effective weapon and he hoped to negotiate with Colonel Sharp and X-COM to have a batch delivered to the Jaffa Resistance, such a device would greatly mitigate their numerical inferiority to those still loyal to the false god's. 'Sorry brother' he said quietly to himself as his Laser burned a hole through the armour then the warm body inside of a fellow Jaffa sending the warrior screaming to the ground, his torso lanced right-through by a beam of coherent light.

Colonel O'Neill drew a bead on an enemy soldier whose aim was too good for comfort and ended his life with a squeeze of the trigger. 'How you doing Tyler?' he asked the young man lying beside him who was grimacing in pain from a severe wound in his leg.

'I'm good Sir' Tyler replied.

'Don't you die on me Lieutenant' O'Neill ordered. 'This isn't X-COM, we expect our people to live through at _least_ three missions and this is your third with SG-1'

Tyler tried to smile. 'I'll do my best Sir' he replied.

'Danny you take a look at Tyler's leg' O'Neill told the academic, 'you're not hitting much anyway and if you stick one of those fancy medikits on him you can stop all that red stuff leaking out' he said. 'Give him some painkillers too' he added.

'No drugs' Tyler responded instantly.

'Don't try and be a tough guy Lieutenant' O'Neill chided. 'We've all taken a shot of morphine in the arm after a shot of something more painful like a plasma blast' he stated, starting to fire again.

'I've got allergies to pain medication' Tyler insisted, he seemed very worried about the drugs. 'It doesn't hurt that bad' he insisted. 'I'd rather grin and bare it than risk going into anaphylactic shock' he declared reasonably.

'Okay Tyler your choice' O'Neill agreed, 'just plug the leak' he told Daniel who had moved where he could apply the X-COM manufactured medikit to the leg of SG-1's sixth and most recent member.

'Got it!' Carter declared triumphantly as the six-barrelled rotary staff-weapon on the Robotic Heavy Weapons Platform and scout, often referred to in the SGC as a "Mighty-MALP" began to spin up as the turret swung around towards the attacking Jaffa Warriors.

'Oh yeah!' Colonel O'Neill cried out enthusiastically as a stream of continual thunderous plasma blasts started to pour into the enemy ranks, the turret slowly swinging back and forth under Major Carters control. Trees and bushes were shredded as the rotary staff-weapon scythed across the landscape. 'Keep your head's down until we're sure they've pulled back' he ordered.

'At least they've learned they can't charge down one of those things now' Daniel told Tyler, indicating the tracked robot vehicle as he yelled over the noise it was making. 'At first they kept trying, it was a slaughter' he said distastefully, remembering witnessing such a scene. It must have looked like a First World War battle with soldiers making their way across no-mans-land into machinegun fire he decided. Only machine-guns overheated and ran out of ammunition, the rotary staff could fire non-stop for tens of thousands of rounds, it was the ultimate in fire-suppression.

O'Neill turned to Tyler. 'If you want when we get back home we can book you some time in the sarcophagus they've put in Area 51' he said. 'Get you back on your feet for the next mission.'

Lieutenant Tyler blinked, he had no idea what that technology would do to him just like he had no idea what the human painkilling drugs would do which is why he had refused them. As the Mighty-MALP stopped firing he decided he'd be better off trusting them than finding out. At least these people were enemies of the Goa'uld and they seemed okay in the brief time he'd known them. O'Neill had carried him back here to the gate on his back after their fluke meeting and the woman with the strange accent and the rebel Jaffa had risked their lives coving the retreat of the others. 'I'm not Lieutenant Tyler' he said. 'I'm an alien' he continued, 'my people are called the Re'ol' he said.

'I hope you're joking Tyler' O'Neill responded, 'because if you're not I think the blood loss has got to you' he said. 'We need to get you back to Doctor Fraser ASAP Lieutenant' he added.

Tyler reached out and touched the side of Daniels head, the academic immediately widening his eyes and moving back slightly. 'This is my true form' he told Daniel quietly.

'Erm Jack, he's not kidding and I'm still full of blood' Daniel announced, looking at the clearly alien and almost skeletal form of the creature.

'My race secretes a chemical as a natural defence mechanism' the alien told him. 'It makes others see us as one of them' he explained, 'that's why the Jaffa captured me, I was a prisoner on a transport ship being taken for dissection and experimentation' he continued. 'I escaped and sabotaged the guidance system which is how I ended up here and met you' he said. 'My people are harmless, all we want to do is hide and live in peace, but because of our gift the Goa'uld have hunted us almost to extinction trying to replicate it.'

Daniel shook his head sadly. 'Sounds more like a curse than a gift to me' he opined.

'Some of us are still left, we've found a planet to hide on the Goa'uld don't know about' the alien told them. 'After I get there we'll bury our stargate and be safe.'

'Lots of people have thought that before and the Goa'uld came in ships' Daniel warned him.

'Hiding and blending in is all my people are good at' the alien told him, reaching out to touch O'Neill too, demonstrating his true form.

'Aliens hunted by the Goa'uld because of a special ability to hide' O'Neill said, does that remind you of anything?' he asked Daniel, surprisingly unfazed by the aliens true appearance.

Daniel frowned. 'The Fenri' he said. 'The Goa'uld hunted it because they thought it could make itself invisible.'

'Right' O'Neill agreed, 'if you're telling the truth, and believe me we've got ways of finding out, we might be able to steer you towards a safer place' he told the alien. 'Have you ever heard of a people called the Nox?' he asked.

'No' the alien replied honestly.

'You'll love them, warm, friendly, pacifistic and they like to hide things the Goa'uld are trying to destroy' Daniel told him. 'They're the ones that were making the Fenri invisible, it was really just a big alien hummingbird.'  
'Nice folks' O'Neill agreed. 'And if they'll take your people in we can stay in touch' he said. 'I bet we've got people that'll be interested to see if we can synthesise that chemical of yours.'

'And we promise not to let X-COM dissect you' Daniel told the alien. 'They only tend to do that to the aliens trying to kill us' he noted. 'They're just rude and overbearing to potential allies as a rule' he added wishing he could put a more positive spin on it than that.

O'Neill nodded. 'Just do yourself a favour and don't show the Russian girl over there what you really look like until she's unarmed' he advised seriously, 'she's in a bad mood and she's dangerous enough as it is normally' he explained.

-

**Tok'ra Base - Vorash – May 2001 **

Tanith entered and looked confused by the presence of SG-1 in the base as he entered the chamber where the rings that transported you up from the underground base to the surface was situated. 'I was not informed our Tau'ri Allies were going to be visiting today' he said. 'Though of course their presence is always welcome' he added diplomatically.

'You were not informed we were coming here because we did not wish you to inform your master Apophis' Teal'c told him smugly.

'You've been played' Colonel O'Neill added. 'We've been feeding you false intel since day one' he told the Goa'uld agent.

Tanith's eyes widened and he was wondering whether he would be better off denying everything or seeking escape when a zat blast struck him and he fell to the ground twitching.

O'Neill turned to the party responsible and glared. 'For crying out loud Sergeant' he told Andianov who was now lowering her L2A2, 'we weren't nearly done gloating yet' he complained.

'Indeed' Teal'c agreed, with more than a touch of annoyance evident in his voice. 'I was planning to remind Tanith of how agonising for the symbiote forced removal from the host is and taunt him with lurid tales of what revenge Apophis would take upon him for his failure.'

Andianov looked around, everyone both Tok'ra and the rest of SG-1 looked equally disappointed. 'I should have been notified that this was the plan' she stated flatly, and shouldered her rifle by its strap.

'We've totally lost the moment now' O'Neill muttered, it just wouldn't be the same if they bad to wait around for Tanith to recover.

Jabob shrugged. 'Nice demonstration of the rifle though' he said.

'We bought four crates of them with us through the gate Dad' Major Carter told him, 'plus two mind-probes and a single crate of Plasma Pistols and Ammunition clips for them' she continued. 'We've got a naquadah reactor with a charger unit built in you can recharge the rifles from too, should be good for a few years' she said, 'and we'll deliver the body-armour and the other items you expressed an interest in with the next shipment' she added.

'The sergeant there with no sense of the occasion can demonstrate the weapons to your security people up on the surface' O'Neill told the Tok'ra. 'We've got operating manuals Daniel translated into Goa'uld script anyway but being shown in person is always better' he advised.

'The mind-probe we can demonstrate on Tanith there' Carter suggested pointing at the unconscious heap on the ground. 'X-COM tried it out on Osiris and the Goa'uld can resist the probe for a while, it just hurts like hell and they do break eventually' she told them.

Daniel nodded. 'Talking of Osiris we think we're close to getting all the useful information we can get so I'd like to ask a personal favour of the Tok'ra' he said. 'Can you extract the Goa'uld from the host' he requested. 'Sarah deserves her life back' he said quietly.

Jacob nodded. 'I can't see the Tok'ra High Council not agreeing to that' he replied. 'I'll talk to High Councillor Per'sus myself' he offered.

'Thank you' Daniel replied gratefully. 'When you're established in your new base we'll bring Osiris to you.'

One of the other Tok'ra, a woman frowned. 'If you had agreed to lending us your Hat'ak we could have moved a stargate and set up a new base the Goa'uld could not find' she said.

'Hey we offered you a list of gate coordinates which we don't think they know about anyhow' O'Neill countered. 'Ones I got downloaded into my head by that Ancient gadget that I programmed into the SGC Computer.'

Jacob nodded. 'Yes and we're grateful for that Jack' he responded, 'but it still would have been better if we could have moved a gate ourselves.'

'Maybe we'll loan you the ship next time you decide to move base' Daniel suggested, trying to smooth things over as ever. 'When Earth is better defended.'

'Thinking of defences that offer of a honking great Laser Cannon for your new home still stands' O'Neill reminded the Tok'ra. 'We're digging three of them in around Cheyenne' he noted. 'Don't hit like a naquadah-enhanced nuke but they're not effected by ECM and they can't be shot down on the way, you just point and shoot' he said, miming firing at something. 'Think one of those Laser Rifles scaled up into a small building' he told them. X-COM had already added Laser Defence batteries to its bases to supplement the nuclear tipped Surface-to-Air Missiles already defending them. The next planned step was even more powerful Plasma Beam defences, essentially larger versions of the cannon used by Sectoid Ships.

'And what would you want in trade for such a device?' a Tok'ra asked suspiciously.

'A cloaking device from one of your Tel'taks would be nice' O'Neill suggested.

'So not a _whole_ Tel'Tak' Jacob replied with wry amusement.

'We're not greedy' O'Neill responded with a chuckle. 'The galaxies worst spy down there is going to be waking up again soon' he noted. 'Might want to throw him into a cell.'

'We've got a drug that will keep him docile' Major Carter added. 'We developed a variation of the sedative which kept Osiris tranquillised in his canopic jar, a couple of CC's and Tanith will be too relaxed to cause you any trouble' she told them. The X-COM R&D people were always coming up with little tweaks of known technology like that.

'If he starts talking about peace, love and trying to organise a big concert called Chulakstock you've given him too much' O'Neill deadpanned, unfortunately of the Tok'ra only Jacob got the joke so it didn't get the laughs he thought it deserved. Ironically when they tested the new drug on Osiris a few weeks before the goa'uld actually did get a bad case of the munchies and accessing the memories of the host Sarah Gardner demanded large quantities of chocolate brownies immediately or the jailers would face unspecified vengeance at a later, equally unspecified, date.

'So how's the war going for Apophis?' Daniel asked, as the Tok'ra led them towards a meeting room where refreshments had been laid out.

'Cronus is nearly at breaking point, he's lost more than two thirds of his forces and Terok is even worse off but the attack by the combined fleets of the System Lord's Olokun and Lord Yu has put Apophis back on the strategic defensive for now' Jacob answered. 'One of our operatives who has infiltrated Kali's inner circle says that she's about to join in the fight too which is good news because she's a close ally of Bastet which means she'll likely follow Kali's lead.'

'Guess the System Lords are starting to decide they either hang together or hang separately' O'Neill observed.

Jacob nodded as they arrived at their destination and he showed them to their chairs. 'Apophis still has them outgunned but he advanced so fast he overstretched his supply lines and manpower' he remarked. 'The Goa'uld aren't good at logistics, they're still too feudal at heart' he continued, reaching for a piece of unidentified fruit from a bowl on a table. 'Taste's like a peach but the texture's more like an apple Samantha' he told his daughter. 'Try one' he advised, taking a bite, he thought she'd enjoy it, they always had similar tastes in food.

'Even with more Goa'uld armies taking up arms against him Apophis can only be stalled not stopped' another Tok'ra, told them, sitting down next to Jacob and reaching for a crystalline jug filled with water.

'Stalled is good' O'Neill replied, 'I like stalled' he added.

'Do we know of any other System Lord's mobilising?' Daniel asked curiously.

'They're _all_ mobilising Doctor Jackson' the Tok'ra replied, pouring water from the jug into a ruby coloured glass. 'We just don't know which ones might be planning to join which side' she continued. 'Several Minor Goa'ulds have already opted to align themselves with Apophis and have sworn fealty in return for keeping the one or two planets they control.'

'Small fry' Jacob commented, 'it's the remaining major players like Ba'al, Camulus and Amaterasu who matter' he declared. 'We think Amaterasu is the most likely to join the war against Apophis in the near future because she's got ties with Bastet.'

'So we could see Kali, Bastet and Amaterasu all throw in together' Daniel queried. 'Goa'uld Girl Power' he joked.

Jacob smiled. 'If Apophis hadn't inherited so much war material from Sokar this would be a great day in the history of the Tok'ra' he noted. 'The System Lords are about to beat each other senseless it's just that Apophis can ride out the losses better.'

'Have you considered providing intelligence to his enemies?' Teal'c asked.

'Ally ourselves with the Goa'uld?' the Tok'ra female exclaimed in horror.

'Yes, in order to weaken the hand of the most dangerous of all' Teal'c replied. 'After discussing the situation with Master Bra'tac we have already decided to concentrate the efforts of the Jaffa Resistance against Apophis and cease operations against any System Lord opposed to him' he told them.

'We're doing the same' O'Neill added. 'Only raiding worlds belonging to Apophis, we're going to start taking out supply dumps, naquadah mines, all the good stuff' he said. 'If he's already overstretched himself even small strikes can have a big impact' he noted. 'You know a few of our Special Forces teams delivered by cloaked Tel'taks to targets you people identify could really ruin Apophis's day' he suggested.

Jacob looked thoughtful. 'Even making him garrison his facilities more heavily against attack would damage his front line strength' he reasoned. 'It still wouldn't tilt the scales totally against him but it'll royally mess up his campaign plans.'

'Hey worst case scenario it'll make him _really_ pissed-off' O'Neill said with a grin.

'Very intriguing idea Jack, something else to talk to High Councillor Per'sus about' Jacob replied, taking another bite of fruit.

Later returning to the surface with several Tok'ra security people Lyumila Andianov set up some targets and began demonstrating the new personal weaponry they had traded for Tok'ra technology and technical assistance. The Tok'ra were surprised at just how effective the Laser Rifles were, easily cutting through relatively thick steel plate at a far greater range than you could hope to hit something with a Staff-Weapon, and with the underbarrel X-COM copy of a zat'nik'tel they could be used for non-lethal combat too. The power of the Sectoid Plasma pistols was equally of note, although compact they were nonetheless again more powerful and accurate than a Jaffa Staff and could be fired fully automatic like a Tau'ri machine-pistol giving the user immense firepower when required, their only weakness was the fact they needed reloading after twenty-six discharges making them unsuitable for a prolonged battle unless you had plenty of spare clips. In reality of course Tok'ra agents rarely got into that kind of combat, what they needed was something to cause a great deal of mayhem in a short space of time and the Plasma Pistol met that criteria very well, more than a few Tok'ra later owed their lives to the devices as they used them to shoot their way out of an otherwise hopeless situation.

One infamous occasion a year or so later saw a cornered Tok'ra, who had been shown a Chow Yun-Fat action movie during a visit to the Tau'ri's Alpha Site, pull dual Plasma-Pistols on the Jaffa trying to capture him and proceeded to gun down a full squad of extremely overconfident warriors before making good his escape, perhaps even more surprised at the outcome than the dead and badly wounded Jaffa he left in his wake. Tau'ri culture was insidious like that, it rubbed off on you, totally shifted the way you looked at the universe and made you try things you wouldn't have dreamt of before.

-

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The first section of the chapter is of course in the aftermath of a largelt unchanged episode 5:03 "Ascension". Having XSGCOM capture Orlin and obtain Ancient Tech from him seemed excessive so I didn't have that occur. The remains of a jury-built stargate however was too good a story point to ignore and since it's established in SG-1 canon that the Tollan did build one of their own (with Nox help) they seemed the logical people to turn to on this._

_Episode 5:04 "The Fifth Man", which is more like"The Sixth Man" here plays out somewhat differently.Given what they did to the Jaffa with MP-5's and P-90's, X-COM Laser Rifle armed SG Teams backed up by Rotary Staff armed MALP/HWP hybrids would kick serious ass. In the original episode the rest of the team had to leave O'Neill and "Tyler" behind and flee back to the SGC under fire. That would be far less likely here IMHO_. _Personally I would have suggested the Re'ol try the Nox if I was in O'Neill's shoes that episode so that's how I re-wrote it. Even if the SGC couldn't reach the Nox directly they had a contact route via the Tollan who had stayed in touch with them. The Re'ol like "Tyler" seemed like the sort of people the Nox would get along with and be willing to hide.. hell they hid a damn Tollan Ion Cannon to help protect them from the Goa'uld and that was getting a lot closer to violating their pacifistic principles than giving shelter to the last remnants of the Re'ol would be_.

_I decided with Apophis still alive and his fleet intact the other System Lords would likely rally against the threat as they did to some extentagainst Anubis and Ba'al in later seasons. I also reason that the Tok'ra would decide that desparate times call for desparate measures._

_Reviews are nice ;-_


	11. Chapter 11

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Ha'tak – Geostationary Orbit – May 2001**

Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c were met on arrival through the transporter rings and were led to the ships Pel'tak, or Bridge as it was now called under the ships new ownership. It was certainly easier to travel back and forth now a set of rings had been set up in the SGC, shuttling back and forth in Deathgliders was a pain in the ass.

Much of the ship seemed to be crawling with engineers and technicians trying to figure it out. One of the plasma cannon's that made up the Ha'taks secondary armament had already stripped out and shipped down to Earth in pieces so it could be back-engineered and the plan was for one of the even more powerful main guns to follow in time. So far it seemed that all Goa'uld plasma weapons were based upon the same basic principles as the Jaffa staff-weapon and were simply scaled up versions of the same with certain necessary changes made to adjust for increased size and power. As such they weren't working blind and the R&D people were confident they could figure the weapons out in a matter of weeks rather than months or years.

As they made their way along a corridor they ran into the Tok'ra Anise who was explaining the principles of the sub-light engines to a number of X-COM and SGC Scientists taking notes as she traced the route of some of the internal cabling through the ship. She acknowledged the two of them with a nod but continued unabated in her lecture, the only one following her not seemingly enthralled by either her words or her appearance the bored looking female X-COM grunt with a Laser Rifle assigned to watch over her in case the Tok'ra did something underhanded.

A few things had already been established which were interesting. Although they hadn't tried to enter Earth's atmosphere the Sectoids had sent scouts into Earth space revealing that the Goa'uld vessel had the same trouble tracking Sectoid ships at extreme range as the Asgard, which wasn't necessarily a shock as Loki would wish to avoid the attentions of the System Lords as well as his own people. The Hat'ak could get a decent weapons lock at relatively short ranges of hundreds of miles but it needed to be directed to the vicinity of the enemy first by the more primitive, but nonetheless in this case more effective, human radar first. Also of note was that Goa'uld shielding was less energy efficient than the otherwise similar Asgard-modified Sectoid deflector shield units now being used by X-COM Firestorms. Anise had already suggested that this finding could be the basis for a more resilient hybrid shield unit that would stand up to punishment longer than a standard Ha'tak, though it would still be far below the standards of even an older Asgard design such as a Beliskner Class ship.

In the long term the plan was to strip out the Deathglider bays one at a time and refit them for the superior and slightly larger F-302's as they came off the production line. It was felt that the ship would be better deployed as a carrier rather than a line warship given that Earth only had one such vessel and could not afford to have it battered about unnecessarily. The striking power of fifty-plus of the new Tau'ri fighters armed with lasers, plasma cannon and naquadah-enhanced thermonuclear warheads should give most foes pause for thought without having to bring the ship itself into danger it was considered.

Colonel Caldwell turned in his command chair when they eventually arrived on the bridge and narrowed his eyes. 'Colonel O'Neill' he greeted his guest with a hint of more than a touch of hostility in his voice, 'Teal'c' he added, acknowledging the Jaffa, 'welcome aboard' he told them.

O'Neill wasn't sure what the attitude was about, he himself would have been overjoyed to have been assigned the job of commanding a sweet boat like this but Caldwell a fellow USAF officer didn't seem all that happy. 'Enjoying the new command Steven?' he asked, deciding that given they were the same rank and had met before a few times some informality was okay.

'I was enjoying it more until recently Jack' Caldwell replied, taking a look around the bridge which was only partially manned at present.

'Problem with the ship?' O'Neill queried.

'The ship's fine, everything working like it should be' Caldwell replied, 'my problem is the crew, and it's your fault' he declared.

'What did I do?' O'Neill asked in confusion.

Caldwell crossed his arms. 'When I took command of this vessel I was told they hadn't come up with a name yet' he began, 'then someone decided that they'd let everyone in X-COM and the SGC vote on it after taking suggestions.'

'Ah' O'Neill responded awkwardly.

'So when the votes are counted I check to see why exactly the suggestion that won got so many votes and I discover that a certain well-respected Colonel had been campaigning for it' Caldwell continued. 'He swayed so many votes with the SG Teams that along with the science geeks it beat out all the decent names to first place.'

'Teal'c helped out' O'Neill responded, trying to share out the blame.

'Indeed' Teal'c concurred, 'I talked around many wavering voters' he declared proudly.

Colonel Caldwell muttered something darkly to himself. 'Nobody with my hairline should ever find himself the commanding officer of a starship called the god-damned _Enterprise_' he growled.

O'Neill desperately fought back a grin, even the stoic and ever laconic Teal'c was clearly finding it hard to keep a straight face. 'What's the problem Steve?' he asked deadpan.

'The _problem_, Jack, is that everybody on this ship has started calling me Jean-Luc Picard behind my back, and in the case of some of the civilians right in front of me' he complained.

O'Neill felt his cheek twitch as he continued to force back a smile. 'That can't be good for the dignity of command' he observed. Caldwell did have a reputation of being pretty tough, harsh but fair was the oft-used phrase to describe him, and he wasn't the type who'd enjoy this kind of thing.

'It's not' Caldwell replied flatly.

Colonel O'Neill looked thoughtful for a few seconds. 'You know I see a solution' he said eventually.

'I'm all ears Jack' Caldwell replied, his voice tinged with hope.

'Okay so here's my idea' O'Neill began, leaning in so nobody but Teal'c could overhear. 'You start wearing an expensive, but unconvincing toupee, make out with resident alien babe Anise and then they'll start calling you Kirk instead' he advised in as serious a tone as he could muster.

Caldwell blinked a few times and then narrowed his eyes again. 'I can have you thrown out of an airlock, you do _know_ that right?' he asked coldly.

'Totally worth it' O'Neill replied happily, 'you can let it go now Teal'c' he added causing the Jaffa to break out into the best laugh he'd had since telling the joke about the Setesh Guard.

'Get off my bridge' Caldwell ordered sharply as soon as Teal'c stopped laughing.

**Laptev Sea – Artic Circle – May 2001**

Captain Michael Redmond grinned as he gained on the Sectoid Battleship, for some reason it wasn't putting everything it could into the engines enabling the X-COM Firestorm under his command to catch up with the large alien craft, once he was down to sixty kilometres he was going to joyfully put a naquadah-enhanced nuclear tipped avalanche missile up its ass and then go home and paint another flying saucer on the side of his Interceptor, at least that was the plan.

It was surprising the opposition hadn't done this before Redmond thought to himself as he chased down his prey. Another identical enemy ship was currently on the other side of the world heading across the Pacific towards South America which was why the newly christened _Enterprise_ was being bought into action down there instead of here, the captured Hat'ak was a hell of a weapon but what it couldn't do was be in two places at once which meant Interceptor Control had to prioritise their targets. Flying out of X-COM Europe Redmond had been seconded from the USAF and he hoped this mission would give him the chance to finally get his kills into double figures, it had been too quiet recently with the lull in the war and he had been worried he was never going to splash his tenth UFO, one thing was for certain, he didn't want to lose out to the second Firestorm heading from X-COM's base in Japan so he pushed his fighter's engines to the maximum as he closed in on weapons range.

The plasma cannon on a battleship outranged his missiles so this wasn't going to be a cake-walk. The shield fitted to his fighter could reasonably be expected to take one hit before failing but after that all he had to rely on was the Firestorms armour plating and his good luck. Adrenaline starting to surge as he closed in to less than a hundred kilometres Redmond initially failed to spot the change in the blip on his radar only noticing that it was breaking up into one distinct and one much fuzzier track when the second began closing fast, _very_ fast.

His first thoughts were that the Battleship had fired an Air-to-Air missile at him, which was a first, but far from totally beyond the realms of possibility given that the enemy weren't stupid and humans had been successfully using such things against them for over two years now. Breaking off pursuit and slowing down for increased manoeuvrability the pilot put his hybrid Tau'ri/Goa'uld/Sectoid technology derived ECM system to maximum and got ready to try and jink to avoid the missile.

The sudden and visible impact of plasma fire against his shields soon changed Redmond's mind as to what the indistinct signal was on his radar. 'Son of a bitch bought along a fucking fighter escort' he exclaimed, pulling the Firestorm around and starting to perform a series of viciously high-gee manoeuvres which would have black him out in an instant if not for the inertial dampening system back-engineered from a Goa'uld Deathglider fitted to his craft.

'Can't get a missile lock' Redmond growled as more plasma impacted on his shields, the enemy craft seemed to have much better ECM than previous ships they had encountered and although it's plasma cannon wasn't remotely in the league of the Battleships it was still starting to deplete his shield strength.

Another tight turn bought the Firestorm almost face to face with its opponent, a small roughly saucer-shaped craft of very similar dimensions and a slightly more flowing design aesthetic than other sectoid ships. It flashed right past the nose of the Firestorm and Redmond found that he could get a lock but only at near point blank range which was not what he wanted when his Avalanches were carrying naquadah-enhanced nuclear warheads.

'Nimble little bastard' Redmond noted as the alien fighter demonstrated it could outturn him, its plasma weapon continuing to chew on his shields every time it got the chance. 'Okay let's do this the old fashioned way' the pilot said opening his second weapons bay and powering up the Laser Cannon it was carrying.

As the two saucers danced through the air it was more like a First World War dogfight than a twenty-first century air battle, no long-range sniping with beyond visual range missiles and huge Directed Energy Weapons this was more of a knife fight and the Firestorm was at a distinct disadvantage. Although it could outturn any terrestrial fight with ease unlike its opponent the Firestorm was not a dedicated aerospace superiority fighter, it was a pure interceptor with a laser cannon designed for maximum beam strength not rate of fire.

'I'm being pecked to death' Redmond said through gritted teeth as the alien fighters guns bought his shield strength closer and closer to zero. He wasn't at all keen to find out what those plasma weapons would do to his armour once the shield was gone and he decided it was becoming the smart thing to do to run like hell. Unfortunately when he tried to break off he then discovered that the alien fighter wasn't just more manoeuvrable, the damn thing had better acceleration and was goddamn faster too.

As determination turned into panic Redmond tried a series of rapid random turns and loops to break away from the engagement but it was getting him nowhere until he once again found himself nose to nose with the enemy fighter and triggered his Laser Cannon on reflex, this time the searing beam of coherent light cutting deep into the saucer, causing the alien to jink away this time. At least they didn't have shields yet Redmond thought to himself with relief, we've still got one edge on the bastards he decided.

Taking advantage of the temporary reversal in the situation Redmond banked hard right, gunned his elerium powered gravity engine to maximum and put the Firestorm into a steep dive. If he could just make it back to land instead of dogfighting over the sea and occasional iceberg he could lead the alien fighter a merry chase flying nap of the earth.

It might have worked if the battleship hadn't decided to end the fight, coming into range of its oversized plasma cannon and firing a single shot which instantly bought down the Firestorms remaining shield strength, vaporised its armour and overloaded the naquadah generator sat just behind the pilots chair. It detonated reducing the craft and its pilot to several thousand pieces in a microsecond, the flash visible for scores of miles even in daylight.

The alien fighter turned and rejoined the ship it had been escorting. As the battleship quickly settled down near the town of Kazachye in Northern Siberia and began abducting people wholesale the fighter performed a Combat Air Patrol overhead, effortlessly knocking down a pair of Russian Airforce MiG-31's that tried to challenge it. With the second Firestorm coming from Japan ordered to return to base until this new threat could be properly analysed, and before X-COM in the form of the _Enterprise_ in orbit could otherwise intervene, both the Battleship and its Fighter escort were leaving the atmosphere again, soon disappearing from all sensors as they accelerated away from Earth.

In the aftermath the recorded telemetry from Redmond's Firestorm told a disquieting tale, they clearly hadn't seen everything the sectoid's could do yet and it came as a nasty shock. They were still introducing new technology to the game and Earth wasn't as secure as it had started to think it was.

The second battleship and its own fighter escort had been blown apart by the Ha'tak over the Pacific but neither Loki nor his AI copies cared for the lost of a few clones or easily replaced ships. Human genetic material and test subjects were more valuable than ship crews, the former carried the secret of saving the Asgard Race from extinction and perhaps securing ascension, the latter be they sectoids, mutons or other races were simply grown in a tube as replacements were needed. Earth was an endless genetic resource to be plundered, and it would be until the humans there raised their game even more.

As ever in the aftermath X-COM licked its wounds, and prepared for the next round, more determined than ever to fight back regardless of losses or technical inferiority. The war might be fought in the skies and on the ground but it was going to be won in the lab and if Loki's Legions had thought they'd seen everything humanity could do yet _they_ were in for a nasty shock too. Deep inside a mountain at Area 51 the first prototype F-302X _Grim Reaper_ was being assembled, technicians working around the clock as they redoubled efforts to get the aerospace fighter operational as soon as possible. Back against the ropes with a bloody nose once again the Tau'ri were going to do what they always did, come out fighting.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – May 2001**

A team of Engineers and Technicians had installed a large flatscreen X-COM Geoscape display on the back wall of the Gate Control room some months back and General Hammond was using the remote control to slowly rotate the image of Earth hanging in space. Eight bright blue squares superimposed on the world showed the locations of X-COM bases right around the world, two orange squares indicated Area 51 and Yamantau and a single white square pointed to the location of the SGC.

A blinking blue diamond moving across the surface of the image of the world meant that the captured Goa'uld Ha'tak was directly over that spot. Solid yellow diamonds were X-COM craft in flight, either Firestorm Interceptors, older XF-701's pressed back into service after a brief retirement, or Skyranger supersonic VSTOL Transports. Red diamonds were hostile UFO's, and there were three of them showing up with the blue diamond heading for one and several yellows heading for each of the other two.

'They're getting more escort fighters every time they show up' Commander Sharp standing just behind Hammond stated flatly. 'Three or four of the things for every battleship now at least, our Firestorms are outclassed even with the shields and the older Interceptors aren't much more than plasma fodder' he stated.

New symbols, this time orange diamonds seemed to be appearing from the symbol for the Ha'tak. 'Deathgliders?' Hammond queried.

'Yes' Sharp replied. 'They aren't remotely a match for the Foo Fighters one-on-one but we've got fifteen of them re-armed with lasers now and weight of numbers is a good equaliser. Mostly we try and use them to chase the bastards off, harass them so they don't try to land, sometimes it works' he said, 'sometimes it doesn't.'

'What about the rest of the Deathgliders?' Hammond asked. 'We got more than fifteen from the Hat'ak' he noted.

'They're all being upgunned, but it takes time to do that and purge the onboard computers of any nasty surprises the Goa'uld left behind' Sharp replied. 'They're even dusting off the old X-301, it's not much but it's got the speed to catch a UFO and we need every bird we can get into the air' he said. 'As soon as we get that other Deathglider back that SG-1 borrowed it'll be thrown into the fight too.'

Hammond nodded. Somehow Major Carter had destabilised a star by bypassing the stargate safeties and the team was currently trying to save an inhabited world called K'tau by introducing a super-heavy element called Maclarium into the planets sun. This would have been a very difficult proposition if they hadn't simply taken a Deathglider apart and shipped it to K'tau for reassembly. Once completed it would fly out of the atmosphere, get as close as it could to the star and fire the MacLarium payload hopefully solving the problem. Apparently some local religious fanatic had tried to sabotage the construction thinking it was all the will of the gods, which to him meant the Asgard who the people of K'tau worshipped, but had been shot with a zat discharge by an ever-alert X-COM sentry before he could do so. 'How many pilots are you losing?' he asked quietly.

'Too many' Sharp replied, 'but while I hate to say it its the lost aircraft that's worse' he continued quietly, 'we can always replace pilots, we've got fighter-jocks from the airforces of every major power on Earth to call on, but we can't manufacture Interceptors quick enough to replace losses' he said. 'The Firestorm was never intended to be built in large numbers, it was a stop-gap until the F-302X and even if that thing was through testing the production lines for it at Area 51 and Yamantau aren't finished yet.'

'Ever wondered how the RAF felt during the early days of the Battle of Britain when the Luftwaffe was grinding down Fighter Command quicker than the Brits could repair airfields, train pilots and churn out Spitfires and Hurricanes?' Hammond asked.

'I think I'm getting the idea' Sharp replied. 'Not so keen on reliving the way the RAF got through it though' he added. 'The Germans stopped attacking the RAF and started terror bombing cities instead, it gave Fighter Command the breathing space it needed to recover but it meant the civilians ended up bearing the brunt instead' he said. 'If _I'd_ have been in charge of the RAF in the thirties it wouldn't have happened.'

'How would you have done it?' Hammond asked curiously.

'I'm X-COM, we win the war in the lab' Sharp replied. 'I'd have thrown money at Frank Whittle when he came along with that crazy "no propeller" idea, can you imagine what the first Messerschmitt pilot crossing the channel in 1940 would have thought when he got bounced by a jet fighter?' he asked rhetorically. 'It could have happened that way instead.'

Hammond zoomed in on a portion of the Geoscape display when a number of red and yellow diamonds had converged. Somewhere over Australia human and alien pilots were fighting for their lives, it all felt so remote until Hammond imagined himself in the cockpit of a Firestorm, dogfighting against a far superior enemy machine high over a red desert. One of the yellow diamonds disappeared from the screen signifying the loss of an X-COM craft. 'God bless you son' Hammond said, visualising the wreckage and the corpse of a young pilot falling to Earth.

'Got one' Sharp said, as a large red diamond amidst three smaller ones turned into a white cross indicating a UFO had been shot down. 'They'll have a retrieval team there in thirty minutes' he said. 'That was a Harvester most likely, they pick up cattle and the odd farmer in that part of the world' he said. 'We've knocked a few of the little ones down but we haven't recovered one remotely intact enough yet to learn much from it' he said. 'They're making a field modification to our lasers so the pilots can select a less powerful shot with a higher rate of fire which will help with dogfighting but we really need to take a look inside one of those things to see why they're so good at stopping you getting a missile lock.'

'Who suggested the name you're using for them?' Hammond asked.

'Foo Fighters?' Sharp responded. 'We've got plenty of people on the staff who are serious Flying-Saucer nuts' he said. 'Foo Fighters is what they called the UFO's that buzzed aircraft all over the world during World War Two. It seemed as good a name as any so it stuck.'

'They're leaving anyway' Hammond noted, the trio of alien escort fighters accelerating away from the fight leaving even the hypersonic Firestorms trailing in their wake.

Sharp nodded. 'We got the ship they were escorting and they're running but it's a pyrrhic victory' he said. 'Lost another damn Firestorm.'

'And another brave man' Hammond pointed out.

'I just wish we had the reserves of aircraft we did of guts George' Sharp replied. 'We'll run out of the first a long time before we run out of the second' he declared. 'When we get those Reapers in the air we'll make them pay, lets see how _they_ like coming up against better technology for once' he said as Hammond zoomed the geoscape display back out. Already a Skyranger had taken off from the closest base, also in Australia though perhaps five hundred miles distant from the UFO crash site, and was heading towards its target with a squad of determined well-armed troops in the back. That was one difference these days, X-COM grunts weren't outgunned any more, the R&D people had finally put Heavy Plasma Rifles into the hands of the troops and the days of aliens shrugging off shots and returning fire afterwards was over, even the eight foot armoured Muton behemoths dropped like most everything else when hit by a blast from one of the weapons.

'So I hear they decided against you having any role in the delegation to Tollana' Hammond said, putting down the remote and turning around to look through the armoured glass towards the stargate.

'I can't say I was too surprised George can you?' Commander Sharp asked rhetorically.

'Well you're not as unwelcome on Tollana as you probably are with the Nox Russ' Hammond replied, trying to put as positive a spin on it as he could.

'They've recruited some diplomat' Sharp told him. 'Supposed to be a hot-shot, they're bringing her here' he said. 'I always wish I could be there when they tell new people what we do for a living.'

'Nobody believes it until they see for themselves' Hammond replied. 'Are we giving her the special tour?' he asked.

'I won't tell her about the rings if you don't' Sharp replied with a grin. 'We just need to get her to stand in the right place and transport her up to the _Enterprise_.'

'What's her name?' Hammond asked.

'Doctor Elizabeth Weir' Sharp replied. 'If she's as good as they say maybe she can get the Tollan to swap some tech and open up a permanent Embassy' he said. 'Supposedly our Treaty with the Tok'ra is already based on some of her work... she'll probably want a commission when she finds out' he reasoned. 'Oh yeah and she's not keen on the military which means I bet she'll _really_ hate X-COM, that'll make for a fun working relationship' he said with a sigh of resignation.

'These things are sent to try us Commander' Hammond observed.

'I'd sooner deal with ten sectoids or fifty jaffa than one pacifistic, political scientist' Sharp declared. 'You can't even use a stun rod on them no matter how much they annoy you.'

'So you'll be doing more off-world combat missions again to keep out of her way?' Hammond asked.

'We both know it's for the best' Sharp replied with a resigned shrug.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Bringing in a few more characters from both SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, it's easier than inventing my own. I guess everyone knows Weir and Caldwell but Redmond is a tad more obscure, i__n SG-1 he was an F-302 Pilot under the command of Lt. Col. Cameron Mitchell who was killed during the battle over the Ancient base in Antartica, I killed him off in a Firestorm over the Arctic instead._

In X-COM: Interceptor the Type 1 Alien Fighter was nicknamed the "Wraith", I decided that would be too confusing long-term and so I called it a "Foo Fighter" instead which is in keeping with the UFO theme.


	12. Chapter 12

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Colorado – Earth – June 2001**

'I usually fly business class' Elizabeth Weir told the Skyranger pilot as they tore through the Rocky Mountains at what she considered a dangerously low altitude but the pilot seemed relaxed enough.

'Trust me, you're better off sitting in the front with me than in the back' the pilot replied. 'They don't build these things with grunt comfort in mind' he told her. 'If you hit turbulence you could get the teeth rattled out of your head sitting on the fold-out seats back there' he declared, indicating the empty hold of the VSTOL Transport aircraft.

'How fast are we going?' Weir asked.

'About six hundred and fifty knots' the pilot answered, 'just subsonic but I can push her up to Mach 1.1 if need be' he told her, 'beats the hell out of flying a helicopter or a CV-22.'

'You're American?' Weir verified. They hadn't talked much during the flight until now, she had been far too wrapped up in the pile of reading she was trying to get through.

'US Airforce on secondment to X-COM' the pilot told her. 'Hey we're getting an escort in the last few miles, guess they want to welcome you properly' he said, pointing out of the cockpit window to the left as another aircraft pulled up alongside.

Weir stared through the glass. 'It's a flying saucer' she said incredulously.

'Firestorm Interceptor' the pilot explained with a grin. 'Back-engineered Alien Technology, we use _their_ stuff to shoot them down with these days' he told her, waving to the other pilot who waved back. 'They say they'll be replacing the Skyranger here with an alien tech based aircraft eventually, but it's not high priority so it could be a while.'

As Weir watched the Firestorm pilot decided to show off, spinning the Firestorm 90 Degrees so he was flying sideways then doing an impossibly tight combination flip and loop that somehow ended up with the saucer shaped craft directly in front to them going backwards at the same speed they were going. 'How much does one of those things cost?' Weir asked amazed at the agility of the craft.

'Believe it or not they're a lot cheaper than an F-22' the pilot told her as the Firestorm repeated its manoeuvre in reverse and resumed its original position flying alongside as an escort. 'It's an amazing bird, do over Mach 6, pity the bugs fly even better ones these days' he said sadly.

'Bugs?' Weir queried.

'Sectoids, the little grey bastards' the pilot explained. 'Every time we think we've caught up they roll out something else, we're always playing catch-up' he told her.

Weir nodded, the summary analyses she'd been provided with had said pretty much the same. 'Have you ever met one?' she asked curiously.

'I usually only see dead ones or unconscious ones in the back after a retrieval mission Ma'am' the pilot replied. 'Seen a few in alien containment but mostly they just stare at you through the glass with those big black eyes' he said, deciding not to mention the fact that like most X-COM people he used to taunt the prisoners for kicks. 'You can't have a conversation with them, they say the Asgard are smart but the Sectoids... they're only made as smart as they need to be, their officers are smarter than their grunts but they're still not all there according to the experts, just enough brains to operate the machinery and know when to duck in a firefight' he said.

'The clones are an empty vessel waiting to be filled' Weir quoted from one of the reports, 'Loki programs them to do a job and they do it, minimal personal initiative or higher reasoning skills' she said.

'Now there's one evil son of a test-tube everyone would love to get their hands on' the pilot practically growled. The rogue Asgard scientist and would-be warlord was regarded about as highly as Vlad the Impaler in X-COM and SGC circles.

A thought occurred to Weir as she took another look at the flying saucer flying alongside them. 'Is that thing carrying nuclear weapons?' she asked nervously.

'I hope so or it's not much use as an escort' the Skyranger pilot replied. 'Three AIM-54X Avalanche missiles, with variable yield warheads' he detailed, 'two kiloton up to two hundred kiloton depending on how big a bang the pilot wants' he said. 'If you want some scale Hiroshima was a thirteen kiloton explosion' he told her. 'Of course compared to some of the big warheads they're stockpiling just in case an Avalanche is a firecracker' he continued. 'They say they measure the yields of those things in the gigatons.'

'So much for all those disarmament treaties I helped negotiate' Weir muttered.

'Every mushroom cloud has a silver lining' the pilot replied 'Thank God for the Cold War' he joked, 'the nuclear powers had enough weapons grade plutonium hoarded away to keep X-COM in nukes for years' he said. 'If we couldn't make them glow in the dark we'd be knee deep in monsters from outer space by now' he opined. 'Arriving at the Mountain in five minutes Ma'am' he told her, we'll be met by a jeep that'll take you from the strip to the base and then one of the SGC people will escort you down to the facility.'

'Are you based there?' Weir asked.

'No I fly out of the North American X-COM Base' the pilot told her. 'I don't usually taxi VIP's around, I fly maniacs packing rayguns into firefights with invaders from outer space for a living most days' he told her with a wry smile. 'If I'm not doing that I usually haul cargo between X-COM, Cheyenne Mountain and Area 51, the kind they don't want to move by FedEx because it's from outta town... way outta town if you see what I mean.'

Weir shook her head. 'I can't believe all this was going on and I didn't know about it' she said. 'Flying Saucers, Alien Parasites pretending to be Gods, UFO abductions are real...'

'The truth is out there' the pilot deadpanned.

Weir laughed, it was nice to know that the people involved in this had retained a sense of humour and hence their fundamental humanity despite everything they knew and had seen. 'Have you been inside the SGC?' she asked.

'I got a guided tour the first time I flew a Skyranger to the mountain' the pilot replied. 'When we've beaten the bugs I'm going to try and get a transfer, see some of the galaxy.'

'What's it like?' Weir asked.

'When you've seen one secret underground bunker you've seen them all' he replied.

'I've never seen inside _any_ secret underground bunkers' Weir told him.

'Then I hope you like the look of concrete, steel doors, exposed pipes and ducting' the pilot responded.

'They haven't got me living on the base' Weir told him, 'they've got me a house in Colorado Springs.'

'_Definitely _a VIP' the pilot observed, 'I share an unpainted room with a seven foot tall, knuckle-dragging two-hundred pound Neanderthal from the Australian SAS' he complained. 'And he was there first so he got the top bunk' he added.

'Seven feet tall _and_ a knuckle-dragger?' Weir queried with a smile.

'Okay, I exaggerate for effect' the pilot conceded, 'six foot ten inches tops' he told her.

'So if you're not spinning tall tales what do you do on these flights?' Weir asked.

'Usually I just put on some Johnny Cash and enjoy the view as it goes past as a blur at seven-hundred miles an hour thirty feet off the deck' he replied. 'They give us a lot of leeway to get away with doing things like that because they don't think we're going to live very long anyway' he explained. 'Skyrangers are plasma magnets when they're heading into a hot LZ' he told her, 'friend of mine was shot down on his first mission, came in too high and too slow and it was game over' he said with a sigh. 'Me I try my best to scare the crap out of the guys and gals in the back, coming in low and fast for a retrieval op dodging trees and flying under power-lines' he declared.

'More exaggeration?' Weir queried with another smile.

'Nope' the pilot replied with a grin. 'I've arrived back at base with tree branches caught up in the landing gear more than once' he told her.

Weir frowned. 'For the record, and in the interests of self-preservation, exactly who do I tell them never to let fly me anywhere ever again?' she asked.

'Major John Sheppard' the pilot answered. 'If they're X-COM and they've flown a mission with me watch out for the grimace' he joked. 'I make it my business to be the man that makes them happier jumping out the back into gunfire than they are on the way in getting there' he said. 'That little bit of extra motivation makes all the difference' he opined brightly.

To Doctor Elizabeth Weir's surprise and mild horror despite the bravado he was in fact the _most_ balanced and _least_ gung-ho member of X-COM she met that day.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2001**

The scientist, Sharp thought his name was Felger but he wasn't certain, looked up when the X-COM Commander arrived. 'The girl's body is still putting out a low-level EM field which spikes occasionally and is playing merry hell with our equipment' he said, turning some kind of gadget around so Sharp could see it, not that the display meant a damn thing to Sharp anyway. 'We moved her into this shielded room to protect the base computers' he noted.

'The girls name is Cassie' Doctor Fraser retorted tersely from the other side of the bed, checking her daughters temperature again, the fever caused by the strange retrovirus afflicting her was getting worse and worse and as it did her behaviour was becoming more erratic.

'Just let me go' Cassandra begged, 'you're killing me' she said. She knew what was wrong with her, her people called it the "Mind Fire" and she knew what to do to get rid of it, return to Hanka and wander alone into the forest.

Sharp deliberately ignored the girl completely for the moment. 'SG-1 may have returned from her homeworld P8X-987 with the solution' he announced.

Janet Fraser's expression instantly shifted from one of desperation and fear to a flash of hope. 'They found a cure?' she asked.

Sharp shook his head. 'They found a secret laboratory in the forest where Cassandra keeps asking to go' he replied. 'It looks like the Goa'uld Nirrti was experimenting on the people there to try and create an improved strain of human being, I don't know the science behind how' he admitted.

'Rewriting their DNA using the retrovirus' Fraser theorised.

'Well however it's done when Cassandra's people reach her age they need to be stabilised or something because the change is too hard on the body' Sharp told her. 'Nirrti was tweaking their genes one generation at a time trying to create a hok'taur or advanced human to be a better host' he said. 'Well we can ask her the details when she wakes up because SG-1 caught the bitch' he said.

'She was there? They caught her?' Janet responded wide-eyed.

'Dragged her back here through the gate unconscious' Sharp confirmed. 'She was using some kind of personal cloak that made her invisible but she made two mistakes, firstly she made some noise and second she didn't know we carry motion trackers, Colonel O'Neill shot her with a zat, when she's awake again we'll get her to do whatever it is she did to fix the other kids.'

'I'm not a kid' Cassandra stated, despite the raging fever she wasn't going to let that one slip past her unchallenged.

'The day anyone more than twenty years younger than me isn't a kid is the day I break down and cry sweetheart' Sharp replied with a grin. 'Let me keep the delusion I'm not old a few more years okay?' he requested in mock seriousness. 'See you later, I just thought I'd let you know what was going on' he told Janet before frowning, 'she knows she has to reimburse us for the medical treatment right?' he asked, nodding his head towards Cassandra. 'I'll have her washing dishes in the canteen for the next couple of months if her allowance doesn't cover it.'

'Hey!' Cassandra protested as Sharp turned to leave 'He's kidding right?' she asked before coughing a few times.

Janet shrugged. 'You'd better hope so' she replied. 'Do you know how many people eat in there every day?' she asked rhetorically, reaching over to stroke her daughters sweat-soaked hair. She was burning up, Janet thought to herself, oh God please let them make the goa'uld bitch cure her soon.

Major Carter arrived a few minutes later with a chess set but Cassandra wasn't interested in playing. She did however render Carter near speechless when she started telekinetically moving the pieces, even making a knight tumble in the air in front of her saying it helped somehow. It was probably a good thing there were no X-COM Psionic Researchers present or they would have likely wired her up to every piece of machinery they had to try and find out how the hell she was doing it.

Three hours later and Nirrti still wasn't cooperating. They had her sitting up chained to a cot in a cell, all her goa'uld technology stripped and wearing an orange jumpsuit but all she did was smirk at her captors. 'If you release me I will cure the girl' she said. 'Otherwise she will die' she stated.

Colonel O'Neill sat placidly on a chair beside her. 'If Cassie dies what do you think will happen to you?' he asked.

Nirrti laughed. 'I am far too valuable a prisoner to be executed' she declared, 'your leaders would never permit it' she said confidently.

'Speaking as one of those leaders' General Hammond interrupted, walking in the open door past Teal'c who had positioned himself there armed with an L2A2, 'you're playing a risky game' he told the goa'uld. 'On this world it's called chicken' he said.

'And another Colonel named Sanders made a fortune from serving them up for dinner' O'Neill interjected.

'We will see' Nirti replied with a smug knowing smile.

Commander Sharp followed Hammond in and regarded Nirrti with barely disguised loathing, just an alien parasite he thought to himself. 'The kid is getting worse' he told O'Neill, 'I can bring in a team to mind-rape the bitch but they're at least two hours away and it could be a while until she breaks' he noted.

Nirti's smile broadened. 'Release my bonds, return my technology and I will save the girl' she said. 'All I ask is to be released through the chappa'ai with a sample of her blood so that I can continue my research.'

'Not a fucking chance' Sharp replied.

Janet appeared beside him. 'Cassie's temperature is up to a hundred and six' she said quietly, a note of desperation in her voice. 'She'll die if you don't help and I swear I'll kill you if you don't save her' she said stepping forward and starting to raise a handgun to point at Nirrti.

Unfortunately for Doctor Fraser Commander Sharp moved a lot faster than she did and disarmed the doctor in a flash, painfully twisting the pistol from her hands before it was even fully raised. Janet screamed and struck out at him, Colonel O'Neill dragging her off as Nirrti chuckled.

'I don't know why the hell you're laughing' Sharp told the goa'uld, passing the pistol to Teal'c. 'There's faster ways than standard interrogation to break you' he stated as Sergeant Andianov walked in and handed him something Nirti immediately recognised with considerable disquiet. 'Everyone out' he ordered. 'Sergeant watch the door' he added.

Still finding her way around after a few days at the SGC Elizabeth Weir ran into a tearful Doctor Fraser, a stern looking General Hammond plus Colonel O'Neill and the Jaffa Teal'c standing in the corridor outside one of the cells. 'What's going on?' she asked before an ear-splitting scream howled from the cell nearly making her jump out of her skin.

'Commander Sharp is utilising a Pain Stick on the prisoner Nirti' Teal'c replied, as another scream rang out.

'A what?' Weir asked.

'A goa'uld torture device that inflicts agony on both host and symbiote' Teal'c explained. 'He seeks to break her will and ensure her cooperation before Cassandra Fraser succumbs to her fever.'

Weir gaped in horror. 'He's torturing a prisoner while you wait out here? She exclaimed.

'Time is of the essence if the girl's life is to be saved' Teal'c stated.

'And you're letting this happen?' Weir asked Hammond.

Hammond looked away. 'Technically he's my commanding officer' he noted awkwardly.

'I was only obeying orders as an excuse went out of fashion with the Nuremberg Trials' Weir retorted. '_We_ don't do things this way' she declared.

'Cassie is dying' O'Neill responded coldly, leaning back against a wall arms crossed.

Weir gathered her thoughts. 'I realise the girl means a great deal to you but...' she began before Janet Fraser spun around and slapped her around the face hard enough to rock her head to the side.

'She's my daughter' Janet said, directing a blazingly fierce glare at Weir.

Nirrti screamed again inside the cell, this time it was prolonged as Sharp gave her a longer taste of the device, the blinding bright light shining out from her mouth and eyes as a side-effect causing Andianov standing in the open doorway to cast a shadow into the corridor.

'...but if we do this how are we different to them?' Weir finished quietly, feeling the bruise forming on her cheek which she touched gingerly.

'We do bad things for a good cause' Andianov stated emotionlessly. 'They do them for a bad one' she continued. 'If you cannot grasp the distinction then your intellect is vastly overrated.'

After one final scream, the sound of pleading for mercy and a short period of quiet Commander Sharp appeared at the doorway, the sergeant stepping aside to reveal he was holding a deflated, broken Nirrti by a twisted up clump of her hair, still carrying the pain stick in his other hand. 'Just just need to motivate them the right way' he stated before forcefully turning Nirti around to face him. 'The girl dies I'll torture you to death, bring you back to life in a sarcophagus and do it again' he told the goa'uld. 'Do you believe me?' he asked with an intensity that would have scared the hell out of someone he _hadn't_ just been torturing.

'Yes' Nirrti replied, her normally commanding voice trembling and raspy from the screaming.

'Cassie will be fine' Sharp told Doctor Fraser who gave him a look of eternal gratitude. He noted both the bruise and the expression on Weirs face, guessing correctly the cause of the former. 'I wouldn't let _you_ die either' he told Weir. 'And when the day comes that that's an issue you might hate yourself for doing it but you'll pray for some vicious ruthless bastard like me to save you' he said. 'Come on bitch' he told Nirti with a growl, hauling her off down the corridor, Sergeant Andianov following behind.

'You can't defend humanity by abandoning it in yourself' Weir called after him.

'It's been working for me okay so far' Sharp replied.

**Curia Building – Tollana – June 2001**

Although the members of the Stargate Project who predated X-COM involvement were at least marginally to the left of Atilla the Hun, unlike the likes of Commander Sharp and his stormtroopers, it had soon become apparent to Elizabeth Weir that if she had any philosophical allies within the SGC it was with the non-military staff, especially the historians and anthropologists, so she had been making efforts to foster cordial working relationships with them. Doctor Daniel Jackson was especially valuable in that he was widely respected in many quarters because of his accomplishments both academic and otherwise, even the military types seemed to like him, he had after all shot an awful lot of Jaffa as well as dug up an awful lot of broken pots. 'So how do you think it went?' Weir asked Daniel after their preliminary meeting with High Chancellor Travell and other senior members of the Tollan Government.

Daniel considered the question for a moment. 'It might have been easier if Omoc wasn't so hard-line on the issue of tech transfer to "primitives" like us' he replied. 'Most of the Curia deep down seem to think they owe us one but there are still plenty who'll stonewall any moves to liberalise their stance' he said. 'Their track record with the people of Serita completely colours their world view.'

Weir nodded. 'But how well did you think I made our case?' she asked.

'Fishing for complements?' Daniel asked with a smile.

'I'll read into that response I shouldn't be hiding from criticism at least' Weir responded, smiling back.

'You made the case that all we wanted was a transfer of stargate technology which a more advanced race than them had given the Tollan anyway very well' Daniel told her, 'masterful use of language and tone especially when you shot Omac down in flames on the point of the Nox trusting younger races like them with technology they hadn't developed yet.'

'He walked right into it when he started spouting off about not being able to trust less advanced societies with science they didn't work to attain themselves' Weir noted. 'They're very advanced but I don't think their political system is as cut and thrust as ours, their debating skills fall far behind their engineering.'

'Nice to have _one_ edge on them' Daniel replied. 'The others are back from their guided tour' he said indicating the approach of the rest of SG-1 who had been off seeing the sights while the two academics met the Curia delegation.

'We met Narim outside' Carter announced indicating their Tollan companion.

Elizabeth Weir did a double-take and stared at the man. 'I'm sorry' she said, 'but you look exactly like my boyfriend Simon' she said as Narim shuffled awkwardly under her scrutiny. 'I mean it's uncanny' she continued. 'You could be twins.'

Narim slowly broke out into a smile. 'Well all I can say is my doppelganger is a very lucky man' he told her chivalrously. 'You must be Doctor Weir?'

'Elizabeth, please' Weir replied.

'Narim' the Tollan introduced himself, offering his hand to shake in the Tau'ri fashion which Weir took. 'I was surprised to hear that the Curia granted you an audience' he admitted.

'We threatened to take them to court if they didn't' O'Neill explained, 'I mean haul them up in front of a Triad' he corrected himself using the local word. 'They couldn't have been too confident they'd win' he opined.

Narim shrugged. 'Private citizens have successfully won their cases again the Curia in Triad many times' he said. 'Our government is not above our laws.'

'There you see' O'Neill said, 'now _that's_ the kind of thing you don't see enough of in the galaxy' he declared.

'Of course that also means that if the Curia voted to allow tech transfer with us Omoc or others could also challenge that decision too' Daniel noted.

'On the other hand there's a lot to be said for dictatorship in certain circumstances' O'Neill changed tack.

Narim chuckled. 'It was wise of you not to bring Commander Sharp' he opined. 'During his brief visit to Tollana last year he managed to annoy many in the Curia.'

'I'm shocked' Weir responded sardonically.

'The Commander is a skilled soldier and excellent tactician' Andianov declared, defending him stalwartly as she glared at Weir.

'The Commander is living proof of Talleyrand's dictum that war is much too serious a business to be left to the military' Weir retorted.

O'Neill chuckled. 'You know you'd get more traction in military circles if you quoted Von Clausewitz instead' he advised. '_Policy is the intelligent faculty, war is only the instrument, not the reverse. The subordination of the military view to the political is therefore the only thing possible_' he quoted then noting the look of surprise in Daniels eyes he smiled. 'Show me a military officer who hasn't read _On War_ thoroughly and I'll show you a dumb son of a bitch' he told him. 'I can give you the best bits of Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_ too' he added. 'If you want to be good at your job you'd better be familiar with the guys that literally wrote the book on the subject' he said.

Narim wasn't quite following the cultural references but he got the gist of the conversation and understood the differences of opinion. Although Tollana didn't have a formal military as such it did have Security Personal that were at least mildly paramilitary in role given that they both enforced the law and operated and controlled the planets Ion Cannon Defences. 'I am told you are offering Hyperdrive technology in return for information on stargate construction?' he asked, deciding to change the subject.

'Technically we're offering Goa'uld Hyperdrive technology we back-engineered from vessels of theirs we captured' Carter told him. 'We know you're behind them in that, your ships are pretty slow by comparison' she noted.

'Our people were never expansionistic enough to devote much effort towards perfecting hyperdrive technology' Narim replied. 'What exploration we did was mainly done through the stargate, but to be honest we were never as driven to explore the galaxy as you seem to be' he said.

'But the technology _is_ worth something to you though?' Daniel asked.

'We do have limited numbers of ships, certainly making them faster would be welcomed by the crews who currently have to spend months on a journey that might take days with a better hyperdrive design' Narim answered. 'We certainly wouldn't offer you our Ion Cannons for them but since all you seek is non-military technology in return I doubt there would be a public outcry at what most would consider a fair mutually beneficial exchange.'

'Omac's a friend of yours could you maybe put in a good word for us' Daniel requested. 'He seemed to be the ringleader of the opposition camp in the Curia.'

'He's not as blinkered and immovable in his position as you may fear' Nerim replied, 'if you can make a convincing case he'll come around with or without my attempts at intervention or persuasion' he continued. 'Knowing him as I do I'd say that part of his strategy is to be so obstructionist now that even if we do end up exchanging technology this time it will make further more controversial transfers in the future more difficult.'

'You guess we're still itching for those big honking spaceguns of yours then?' O'Neill asked.

'Of course' Narim replied. 'We know what a threat the Goa'uld are, you would be a foolish people indeed to not desire a weapon that can smash any ship they send against you and although you are centuries behind us you are _not_ a foolish people.'

'In the long term Earth wants a friendly and productive relationship with Tollana' Weir told him. 'We could be great friends and allies' she said.

'My people would be happy to be friends with yours, as we have friendly relations with the Asgard, Tok'ra and Nox, but we have always avoided alliances for risk of being dragged into someone else's fight' Narim told her.

'You're already _in_ the fight or did the last Goa'uld attack slip your mind' O'Neill asked wryly. 'You know that Apophis could win the war that's going on out there right?' he asked rhetorically. 'Without the other System Lord's to worry about he might decide its worth losing a few ships to finally get rid of the only human civilisation out there which can potentially kick his ass.'

Narim sighed. 'I'm sure the Curia has considered that possibility' he said.

'You know with our hyperdrive on a ship mounting a couple of your Ion Cannon's you could really give Apophis pause for thought' Daniel noted. 'He'd be far less likely to attack Tollana if he thought the immediate response was going to be _your_ ships arriving over _his_ worlds' he said.

'I'm going to push that argument to the Curia' Weir agreed. 'I'm not in the military, as a matter of fact I don't particularly _like_ the military, but given the threats present in the galaxy some kind of strong deterrent is a must for any world that wants to retain its independence' she said. 'The Goa'uld might not care how many Jaffa you kill when they attack your world but they'd certainly care about the prospect of a Tollan warship arriving over their royal palace with a very vengeful crew aboard.'

Teal'c nodded his agreement. 'Amongst the Jaffa there is a saying' he began. 'The best defence is a good Ha'tak' he said.

'Okay now that's just a freaking _classic_ Teal'c' O'Neill told him with a grin.

'Thank you O'Neill' the Jaffa replied. He was always glad when one of his pearls of wisdom was well received.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_Sheppard seemed a good choice for a Skyranger pilot, thought it was a good alternate way for him and Weir to meet too. __Hope you also appreciated Episode 5:06 Rite of Passage with a nasty XSGCOM twist at the end. Nirrti badly underestimated just how unpleasant some Tau'ri can be when they've got a certain mind-set._

_Omoc was the leader of the Tollan that SG-1 first encountered, Narim was the one that had the hots for Carter if you didn't know. Both the Tollan Narim in SG-1 and Elizabeth Weirs fiancee in Stargate Atlantis were played by the same actor by the way, I couldn't resist a little reference to that._

_Please note that I do not advocate the use of torture, for the most part its dehumanising and ultimately self-defeating, please don't flame me because one of my characters is a ruthless xenophobe who's lost far too many people._

_I also apologise for the Ha'tak pun at the end there :-p_


	13. Chapter 13

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2001**

O'Neill looked from Weir to Sharp. 'I don't know which one of them looks more pleased with themselves' he whispered to Carter sat next to him in the canteen which was being temporarily used as a lecture hall as Hammond handed over the briefing to Weir. The room was full of SGC personnel as the senior staff updated the whole base as to the current state of the war.

Elizabeth Weir looked around and smiled. 'As you know after a lengthy negotiation the Tollan have agreed to trade Stargate for Hyperdrive technology' she began. 'Furthermore we have been given permission to set up a permanent Embassy on Tollana and have been offered a small pre-existing government owned building for the purpose.'

'They didn't want us bringing in our own engineers to put one up' General Hammond remarked. 'Something about building codes' he explained.

Weir nodded. 'The Tollan seemed to think that with our level of technology anything we built would fall down the next time it got windy' she said, causing a ripple of laughter to run through the canteen as she rolled her eyes for effect. 'In any case I'll be taking the job as Ambassador to Tollana on a temporary basis while a permanent appointee is found' she announced.

'We've got our foot in the door now' Hammond observed. 'SGC Personnel both military and civilian will be rotated through the Embassy and I expect you all to make sure to leave a good impression on our hosts' he said. 'You will be polite, civilised and try to look as "advanced" as possible at all times.'

'You know that could be harder for some than others' O'Neill couldn't resist responding, 'I mean some of us look more evolved and eat less raw meat' he noted, pointedly grinning at Colonel Reynolds the commanding officer of the SG-3 Marines who muttered something about the "Air Farce" in return.

'Who gets the job of Military Attaché?' Colonel Barnes from SG-6 asked.

'Yet to be decided, are you after the job Colonel? General Hammond queried.

'No Sir' Barnes replied vehemently.

'Dodged a bullet there' O'Neill told the other USAF Colonel. 'Never volunteer or sound like you're volunteering' he advised sagely, earning a chastened nod from Barnes.

'Commander Sharp' Weir said, turning over the briefing to the X-COM officer who stood up from the chair he'd been sat in.

'Okay' Sharp began, 'as you know more and more System Lord's have joined the coalition against Apophis which has ground his offensive to a temporary halt as he's forced to re-deploy his forces to meet some nicely carried out counter-attacks' he said. 'A joint armada of Hat'ak vessels from the fleets of Kali, Bastet and Amaterasu crashed into his flank two weeks ago while he tried to knock Lord Yu out of the fight and the bastard then had to retreat straight away because unfortunately for him our Tok'ra friends had clandestinely informed Kali what planets his supply lines were routed through' he continued with a smirk. 'Lord Yu then took the opportunity to take advantage of the situation and retook several strategic worlds he'd lost to Apophis, it's only a temporary reversal but I think you'll agree any bad news for Apophis is worth celebrating' he said.

'Are we going to deal ourselves into this Sir?' a Captain from SG-7 asked.

'Oh hell yeah' Sharp replied with a grin. 'The Tok'ra are sending a pair of Tel'tak's with cloaks to the Alpha site where they're going to pick up four teams I'm assigning to the mission later today' he said. 'We're going to ride through Apophis space like the Mongol Horde and blow up everything we can with some handy new demolition charges Major Carter can tell you about.'

Carter stood up. 'The charges are actually an elerium-based sectoid manufactured grenade contained in a thin weapons-grade naquadah jacket we added' she explained. 'They're about the same size and weight of a tin of beans and have an explosive yield of approximately one and a half kilotons of TNT' she told them. 'That should be sufficient to destroy or at least cripple most unshielded targets' she said.

'We've got crates full of them just ready to go' Sharp announced enthusiastically. 'We'll shoot everything that moves and blow up everything that doesn't' he declared. 'Apophis will have to strip his offensive forces to garrison every logistically important world he has, he's got the ships to fight all the other System Lord's but he doesn't have the manpower to match so being forced to do that will hurt.'

'What if we run into a large existing garrison?' another officer queried. 'The Tok'ra can't have perfect intelligence there's not enough of them to keep tabs on every world Apophis has.'

'We've got a target list we're pretty sure of' Sharp replied, 'but nothing is for certain' he admitted.

'Sounds like fun' O'Neill said.

'Indeed' Teal'c agreed, Daniel looking at both of them like they were insane.

'So what about the teams not assigned?' Colonel Reynolds asked.

'The worlds the cloaked Tel'taks are going to hit were chosen because they have decent gate defences, some may even have a force-field Iris' Sharp replied. 'There are other planets which are easier to attack via the stargate so don't think that anyone getting left behind isn't going to be in on the fun, we've got a second-tier of targets with minimal gate defences that are worth hitting too and we will be hitting them in concert with our Free Jaffa allies' he said then walked over to retrieve an object which had been lying on a table under a cloth.

'What the hell is that monstrosity?' someone asked as Sharp revealed the device.

'We're calling it a "Staff-Rifle", or at least we're going to try and get the Free Jaffa to call it that and not something full of apostrophes' Commander Sharp replied to some laughter. 'Basically all we've done is taken a Staff-Weapon, removed the counterweight club and two feet of the staff length and added a metal stock, a handgrip, some iron sights and a trigger in the right place' he said. 'Guess what' he continued, 'you can actually _hit_ something when you fire the thing now' he joked provoking laughter from the room. The ergonomics of the standard Jaffa weapon were truly abysmal.

'We are delivering the first batch to the Free Jaffa Resistance tomorrow' Teal'c announced, 'I expect my people to be resistant to using them until they witness their greater military effectiveness' he said.

'They're still nowhere near as good as a L2A2, or even a conventional rifle' Sharp said, 'but they beat what the Goa'uld Loyalist Jaffa carry all to hell and if we can train the Resistance to use proper cover and manoeuvre, and fight at a distance where the better accuracy will really show its worth, then the Staff-Rifle will give them a hell of a tactical advantage.'

'Why not give the Jaffa _our_ weapons Sir?' a marine sergeant asked.

'The latest production model L2A2 Laser Rifle with the improved power-pack and zat costs thirty-three thousand dollars each to manufacture' Sharp replied, 'and we'd have to supply naquadah reactors to recharge them with' he said. 'If we gave them conventional weapons it would be cheaper but they'd be entirely reliant on us to supply ammunition' he noted, 'this thing is cheap to convert, doesn't require ammunition and will run for years on its power-cell' he said holding up the Staff-Rifle. 'Besides which do you have any idea just how many damn Staff-Weapons we've got in storage?' he asked rhetorically, 'every time we get into a firefight you people throw another dozen at least back through the gate.'

'I heard Area 51 has a warehouse full of them stacked up to the ceiling' Carter interjected.

'The more we can get rid of the better' Sharp agreed. 'It's really not _that_ bad a weapon when you can aim it properly' he said, shouldering the weapon and sighting it on the far wall. 'Be honest, how many of you would be alive if your average Jaffa Warrior could hit the side of a barn if he wasn't inside it?' he asked to more laughter. 'No offence Teal'c' he added.

'None taken Commander' Teal'c responded. 'My experience with the soldiers of the Tau'ri have long left me with the knowledge that although the Staff is an effective weapon of terror, useful for intimidation or melee battle, it is not an effective weapon of war' he said. 'The old ways and weapons may still hold a place in the Jaffa heart but it would be irrational for them to remain in our minds and hands.'

'And besides which if we ever have a problem with the Free Jaffa they won't have weapons that'll penetrate our body armour' O'Neill added, giving Sharp a look that said I know you thought of it first.

'Never occurred to me' Sharp responded, lying through his teeth though he did it well enough that O'Neill decided not to play poker with the man.

'How many Free Jaffa have we got on our side now?' the recently promoted Major Griff now commander of SG-2 asked.

'Near a hundred warriors ready to take the field of battle though the number will swell when news of their successes spread' Teal'c replied. 'Master Bra'tac is rallying them for the offensive against Apophis.'

'The Tok'ra have given us a list of suitable worlds with staunchly loyalist garrisons which the Free Jaffa can kick the shit out of' Sharp announced. 'Hard fights where Teal'c's boys will be outnumbered but winnable ones' he said.

'So how is the _other_ war going Sir?' Colonel Barnes queried.

'Not great' Sharp replied honestly. 'We're down sixty percent on our peak strength of Firestorms and in case you hadn't heard we lost three Deathgliders the day before yesterday' he announced in stoic tones. 'The good news is the prototype Reaper made it through flight tests without crashing, exploding or irradiating the pilot and it's supposed to be as good as they said it was so if the Interceptor Pilots can hold on a few more weeks we'll finally be able to meet the Foo Fighters on equal terms.'

'How many bug ships are getting through?' O'Neill asked.

'Too many, we can't contest every attempted landing' Sharp replied. 'Unless they're headed for a heavily populated area we're not even trying.'

O'Neill took a deep breath. 'How many civilians are we losing?' he asked.

'Dozens of abductions every week, it would be hundreds if we weren't conserving our forces for priority missions' Sharp answered then looked around at the expressions of the assembled personnel. 'You know from the reports what happens to the people they abduct' he said. 'Medical experiments and judging from what we've found on some UFO's they've even been used as food' he said, his face now a dark mask set with determined eyes. 'Now let's all get this straight' he said coldly. 'We _will_ beat the Sectoids, we _will_ beat the Goa'uld and we _will_ beat every other alien motherfucker that underestimates the human race' he declared. 'We lose battles, we lose pilots, we lose soldiers but we will _not_ lose the war and we will never, _ever_ stop fighting regardless of the losses' he continued. 'Honour our fallen comrades, grieve for the civilians we couldn't save, but do your jobs and never for a second believe there's no hope of final victory because, mark my words, _there is no possibility of defeat_' he stated with all the conviction he could muster.

Weir watched as first Colonel O'Neill and then everyone in the room started thumping their fists on the tables faster and faster in approval and agreement. If self belief was a weapon, she thought, then the aliens really had bitten off a lot more than they could chew.

**Free Jaffa Camp – P8X-987 – June 2001**

'You realise that as the only survivor of the people that lived here technically Cassie owns this whole planet' Daniel realised as he looked around the collection of tents that they had provided for the newly arrived Jaffa resistance who were starting to make themselves at home, some scouting the local area, others suspiciously sampling the dubious delights of MRE ration packs.

Carter had been checking the contents of a crate of miscellaneous supplies but now paused in her work, turning to look at him. 'I never thought of it that way' she replied. 'She's the last Hankan so she inherits everything.'

'I don't think anyone is going to try and uphold Nirrti's claim to the place at least' Daniel reasoned.

Bra'tac had been walking across the camp and paused listening in on the conversation. 'Teal'c spoke of the girl of this world the healer adopted' he said. 'For the false god Nirrti to murder her entire people and then attempt to use the child as a weapon was an act vile by even the standards of the Goa'uld' he said. 'I am surprised you allow Nirrti to live' he opined.

'She's more use to us alive' Carter replied with a shrug. 'She knows more about hok'tar genetics than anyone else, except maybe the renegade Asgard Loki, and she's answered a lot of questions about other advanced goa'uld technology.'

'The goa'uld are skilled deceivers, you should take care' Bra'tac warned.

'They're also heavily into self-preservation' Carter replied. 'At the moment all that stands between Nirrti and being yanked out of the host by the Tok'ra then fed into a waste disposal unit is cooperation' she said.

'Be wary' the old Jaffa master advised. 'Their overconfidence and arrogance is their greatest weakness, do not fall into the same trap' he told them, 'it could as easily be your undoing as theirs' he said then pointed across the camp to where Teal'c and the Tau'ri female warrior Andianov of Russia were demonstrating the Staff-Rifle to a number of Jaffa. 'Many of our number have expressed dissatisfaction that you have supplied such weapons' he noted.

'You wanted regular Staff's and Zat'nik'tels?' Daniel queried.

'No we had thought we would be given the light-beam weapons that the Tau'ri soldiers now carry' Bra'tac replied, 'Teal'c tells me you call them Laser Rifles' he continued. 'That your weapons are not only more effective in battle, but also more advanced is clear to all that have seen them' he said.

Carter closed the crate she had been checking and moved to the next one. 'You'll be surprised just how much better the Staff-Rifle is than the original weapon' she told the Jaffa Master. 'I'm sorry but the decision to give you those instead of our L2-A2 Lasers was taken higher up the chain of command than myself or Colonel O'Neill though' she added.

'Teal'c said it was the order of Sharp of Canada' Bra'tac replied.

'Maybe but I think the bean-counters might have played a part too' Carter told him.

'Bean Counters?' Bra'tac repeated quizzically. 'Why would those who tally crops have influence on such a decision?' he asked in confusion.

'It's a slang phrase meaning an accountant or similar' Daniel explained, 'someone who determines the value of things and may decide how many can be bought, made or sold' he said. 'The Laser Rifles are very expensive, you could purchase many of the old projectile weapons we used to use for the price of a single one.'

'These "bean-counters" have ruled then that your weapons are too valuable to give away' Bra'tac said thoughtfully. 'If we offered fair exchange could then the Free Jaffa purchase them?' he asked.

'I think that might depend on what you had to trade' Daniel replied, thinking about it. 'It would have to be something valuable enough to silence any objections' he surmised.

'Naquadah may fall into our hands' Bra'tac noted, 'would that be considered valuable enough?' he queried.

'You can never get too much naquadah, weapons grade would be the most valuable' Carter responded in the affirmative, 'pieces of obscure Goa'uld technology would be worth something too' she added. 'No staff weapons, those we've got too many of already' she told him with a smile.

'Taken from the still warm bodies of fallen Jaffa' Bra'tac replied flatly. 'It has become a modern legend that the Tau'ri soldiers are like locusts which strip the land free of anything they value' he said. 'And before they leave they destroy anything useful they cannot steal' he continued, 'there is rarely a bridge, mine or dam left intact after the Tau'ri raid a world it is said.'

'Yes that sounds like the way we do things now' Daniel replied, sounding less than overwhelming enthusiastic as to the change in policy.

'It is an effective, though I cannot say honourable way to make war' Bra'tac observed.

'To quote Vince Lombardi' Colonel O'Neill said, joining the group, 'Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing' he said.

Bra'tac turned to him. 'Is this Vince Lombardi a renowned leader of warriors amongst the Tau'ri?' he asked.

'Won five NFL League Championships in nine years' O'Neill affirmed. 'I just got off the radio to the SGC' he announced. 'They just got a report back from Sharp and his merry band of roving lunatics' he told them, 'they've taken out the second target in their list and they're moving onto the third, a recovery and retrieval team from the SGC is going to do the clean up.'

Carter nodded. 'Sounds like arriving by cloaked Tel'tac is working then Sir?' she replied.

'Can you imagine the paranoia when word spreads we're doing that?' O'Neill asked rhetorically. 'Apophis is going to be _pissed_' he said happily.

'You know he could retaliate easily enough' Daniel pointed out. 'We know he can cloak whole Ha'taks.'

'You have no equivalent empire and if he attacks Earth directly he risks war with the Asgard' Bra'tac replied. 'He will not do so, they are feared by all Goa'uld, no System Lord has ever faced them in battle and achieved even a small measure of victory' he said. 'The legends speak of Thor's Chariot smashing a whole flotilla of Ha'tak's single handed without being even damaged.'

'That was an old Beliskner Class Cruiser' the Colonel responded, 'you should see one of their new kick-ass O'Neill Class Warships' he said.

'Sir do you plan to tell everyone at every opportunity about those?' Carter asked.

'Yes' O'Neill replied. 'And if they ever make a Carter Class ship you will too' he told her.

'The Asgard named a class of warships after you?' Bra'tac queried of O'Neill, clearly impressed.

'Yeah me and Thor are good buddies' the Colonel told him with a smile.

'Jack and Freyr not so much' Daniel couldn't resist noting.

'We had a tiny personality clash I'll admit' O'Neill conceded.

'It's just a good thing Freyr as a clone doesn't have a mother or he might have been pretty insulted by what you called him Sir' Carter observed.

'Yeah well, I did ask to talk to Thor instead' O'Neill responded awkwardly. 'Anyhow we know the Asgard can be jerks just like humans so it's not like just because they're way more advanced they're automatically way better people' he said. 'Look at Loki' he continued, 'clear favourite to win Evil Asshole of the Galaxy Award 2001.'

'I used to think Apophis was the clear front runner, after winning the previous four years in a row like he did' Daniel replied seriously, playing along because Bra'tac looked like he was taking O'Neills comment seriously and was likely wondering if the title was awarded by a special Tau'ri committee set up for the purpose.

'Well at least we know it's between the two of them' Carter interjected, 'I mean what's the chances of a new Nominee with a chance of winning coming along now?' she asked rhetorically.

**Goa'uld Base – P3S-114 – June 2001**

Holding the data storage device in one hand Ba'al smiled as he waved the stone over it to change the display to the next page. 'I wish all my commanders were as competent as you Zarin' he told the other goa'uld sat across the table from him as they picked over a light lunch. 'This world is as productive as any in my realm and the garrisons of my troops under your command compare in skills and training to even the elite Jaffa regiments I hand-picked myself' he said. 'Were I as paranoid as some I would have you killed as a possible threat' he said with a chuckle.

Zarin laughed. 'If I served a System Lord who was less well balanced I would deliberately make sure to look less competent' she responded. 'Fortunately My Lord you grasp the value of having lieutenants with abilities other than sycophancy' she said.

Ba'al looked around to make sure they were alone. 'Unlike my peers I'm still aware that we made up the story about being gods to help maintain dominance over the primitive, superstitious slaves we took from among the Tau'ri' he said. 'Unfortunately over the centuries most System Lord's seem to have succumbed to their own propaganda' he continued, shaking his head sadly. 'Having retained my grip on reality I realise that it's safer to put my trust in the loyalty of skilled underlings than to trust in the delusion I am divine' he said. 'I _do_ still expect the sycophancy however' he added with amusement.

Zarin bowed slightly. 'Of course' she said, before reaching for a piece of succulent fruit. 'As you ordered I have begun an accelerated training program for new Jaffa Warriors and increased production of weapons' she told him before taking a bite.

'Good' Ba'al replied, putting down the data tablet and the page-turner and reaching for a similar piece of fruit for himself. 'You know we'll be at war with Apophis within weeks?' he asked.

Zarin nodded. 'I guessed that was your reason for visiting' she replied.  
'Losses will be heavy, I will need you to help oversee several more worlds and ensure war production and training of replacement troops takes place at maximum efficiency' Ba'al commanded.

'I will toil every minute of the day to ensure it' Zarin replied then paused. 'May I speak freely?' she asked with a frown.

'You are going to ask whether we can win a war with Apophis?' Ba'al pre-empted her question. 'The answer in normal circumstances would be no but these are not normal circumstances' he said. 'If they were I would have executed you as soon as I learned that you were of the Tok'ra' he said with a smirk.

Zarin's eyes widened as Ba'al pointed his left hand towards her, palm flat as he pointed a previously concealed zae'tarc beam weapon at her. 'My Lord I am not...' she began.

'Please don't insult my intelligence or your dignity by lying' Ba'al told her. 'This is only a guarantee that you won't do something stupid' he told her indicating the weapon. 'I know that the Tok'ra have been providing information to the other System Lords fighting Apophis, I also know that you consider him a greater threat than the rest of us put together' he continued. 'In short your enemies enemy is your friend, at least for now, so I see no logic in not uniting against a far more dangerous foe' Ba'al announced.

The Tok'ra agent blinked. 'You seek alliance?' she asked.

'Temporarily' Ba'al replied. 'I seek you personally to continue your duties and help prepare my armies to fight Apophis and I seek whatever intelligence the Tok'ra as a whole might provide to enable me to best combat him he said. 'Don't think I've gone soft, I plan to crush you mutant traitors in the future but I won't _have_ a future unless Apophis is stopped' he stated.

Zarin fought the urge to take flight, or else try and take Ba'al with her by detonating one of the concealed weapons she was carrying, and instead tried to look calm and relaxed. 'If you consider Apophis such an overriding threat why did you not join the war earlier?' she asked.

'A question every Goa'uld in the Galaxy would probably wish answered' Ba'al replied. 'The truth is I needed the time to modify a number of Ha'tak vessels to both detect the cloaked versions Apophis is using and increase their shield and weapons power' he answered truthfully. 'Numbers are still limited but they are superior enough to help counter the vast fleet Apophis inherited from Sokar.'

'I was not aware you had been devoting such resources towards the research required to advance your ship technology so far' Zarin said in surprise. 'Was this a project of Nerus?' she asked. The overweight and annoying though brilliant goa'uld scientist in Ba'als service was renowned for his inventions.

Ba'al smiled. 'Always seeking intelligence' he responded, half in amusement, half in mild admiration. 'No the information came from somewhere else' he told her. 'Another ally who would likely be an enemy in different circumstances' he explained. 'I only wish the situation was such that I could avoid dealing with you both' he added wistfully.

'Who is this other ally?' Zarin asked.

'You know to be honest I do wonder if "what" rather than "who" might be a more accurate way to phrase that question' Ba'al replied.

A hooded figure in a heavy black cloak appeared from nowhere beside them. 'Do not test my patience or seek to mock me Ba'al' it said in a tone which even other goa'uld would have considered excessively melodramatic. 'I am Anubis' the figure declared.

'As a hologram' Ba'al told Zarin, reaching over to wave his hand through it because he knew just how annoyed the even less corporeal than normal Anubis would be if he did.

'Anubis' Zarin repeated in horror. 'He vanished centuries past.'

'I have returned' Anubis stated. 'Inform your kind I will annihilate them once I have dealt with Apophis' he told Zarin.

'Commanding presence, knowledge of Ancient Technology but no social skills whatsoever' Ba'al commented shaking his head sadly. 'He's probably scowling at me from under that cowl now too' he told Zarin with a smirk. 'Unfortunately he needs me' he said, the fact was that Apophis had such a great fleet it went a long way to making up for the fact that the technology Anubis had meant his Ha'taks were individually far superior.

'That will not be the situation forever' Anubis stated, Ba'al would pay for his mockery and lack of deference one day.

Ba'al inwardly shrugged, he had to survive Apophis first before he needed to start worrying about Anubis, he had to prioritise stopping one posturing megalomaniac with delusions, or perhaps in the latter's case _memories_, of near god-hood at a time.

* * *

_**Note from the Author**_

_We know that Hanka (Cassies World) was both safe and deserted at this time so it seemed a good place for the Free Jaffa to set up home to me, they've even got Nirrti's underground bunker with its own set of rings._

_Ba'al had more of a sense of humour (albeit wry) than the other System Lords and clearly hadn't started to think he was really a deity unlike some of the crazier ones. Zarin was a Tok'ra agent who served Ba'al in a fairly senior position for many years (she appears in Episode 8:10 Endgame). I imagined Anubis paying more attention to Ba'als situation and staff if he needed his assistance against Apophis._

It's established in the series by the success of Lord Yu's older Ha'taks against Anubis's forces in battle that with numbers they can still put the hurt on the upgraded versions, that's why I see Apophis as being a problem for Anubis, the former has a lot of ships at this point and Anubis hasn't built up yet.

There's just no way I can see either tolerating the other, they both want to be System Lord #1 so they'd be bound to fight it out


	14. Chapter 14

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

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**Stargate – P4A-771 – July 2001**

SG-1 had once very briefly visited this world four years earlier, upon arrival they were greeted by a considerable quantity of what they assumed was Goa'uld firepower and after exchanging fire for a while with a foe they never actually saw amongst all the trees immediately headed straight back home, O'Neill and Carter enjoying the dubious pleasure of ending up at the Antarctic Stargate instead of the SGC.

Observing through binoculars from a concealed position it was abundantly clear to Commander Russell Sharp why you wouldn't want to travel here uninvited by stargate. A large Jaffa garrison supported by a multitude of Staff-Cannon emplacements meant that even with superior X-COM equipment you would have to be lucky in the extreme to not incur heavy casualties trying to force a bridgehead.

On the other hand, because Sharp and the two mixed squads of SGC and X-COM soldiers had arrived on P4A-771 via cloaked Tok'ra Tel'tak's all the Staff-Cannons, bunkers and guards were facing in completely the wrong direction which was damn convenient as they prepared to launch an attack.

'If everything is going according to schedule they should be dialling in right about...' Sharp whispered to the closest team, checking his watch. 'Now' he said with a grin as the stargate engaged, the splash like "kawoosh" of the incoming wormhole forming from Earth immediately attracting the attention of all the Jaffa Warriors in the vicinity.

Tactically the best way to assault a defended bridge is from both ends at once and you could think of the stargate as a choke point very much like a bridge in this case. 'I can see this being a really good day' Sharp declared brightly as his troops used the distraction to move into their final positions. He switched on his radio headset and sent the correct IDC signal to tell the SGC on the other side it was him. 'You may fire when ready Gridley' he said into the microphone and put his binoculars away, reaching for his rifle.

Something came hurtling out of the stargate at enormous speed and immediately started to climb, riding into the sky on a pillar of fire. It wasn't the first time the Tau'ri had used this tactic, firing Maverick Missiles through the gate which would target anything painted by a laser, but it still seemed to catch the Jaffa very much by surprise especially when the thing did a loop and began hurtling back down towards the strongest defensive position which was being marked for destruction by a Lieutenant from SG-7, knelt beside Sharp illuminating it with a laser.

The missile slammed into a bunker, its 125 pound high-explosive warhead and what was left of its fuel blasting it and its occupants to pieces and sending a pair of heavy Staff-Cannons flying off into the distance like they were matchsticks.

'He shoots he scores!' the Lieutenant exclaimed as the X-COM and SGC troops took the explosion as the signal to open fire themselves, gunning down the reeling Jaffa with their L2-A2's. Once again the element of surprise added to superior weaponry meant that the outnumbered Tau'ri had the edge.

'Time to switch lasers and rack up some more points' Sharp responded, indicating the Lieutenants own rifle. 'Well after dealing with that Deathglider Airbase we scouted earlier' he added, raising a remote detonator, flipping up the safety and pressing the button. They didn't have the forces to attack both sites simultaneously, and taking out the Deathgliders first would have revealed their presence, but there was always an alternative means when you have sneaky special forces who can easily avoid unwary guards and a number of very special demolition charges.

The flash of light from the East arrived in what seemed like a surprisingly long time before the ground shook and the sound of the explosion arrived. It wasn't particularly large in relative terms, but given that its relations were designed to level whole cities that didn't mean it wasn't still pretty impressive as the one-point-five kiloton nuclear device they had planted at the base went off and quite thoroughly removed the prospect of the Jaffa calling in Air Support. In fact one Deathglider kept on ready alert had already being prepped for flight and was just taking off when it was largely disintegrated by the blast-wave, the remains caught up in the maelstrom and raining back to the ground over a mile away.

'Oh God I hope someone has a camera' Sharp said to himself in awe as the familiar mushroom cloud rose into the sky only a handful of miles away. It also occurred to him that the geeks back home had better be right about a naquadah-boosted elerium grenade producing minimal radioactive fallout because in the long term he didn't want cancer and in the short term he didn't want to glow in the dark. 'Shit better get back to work' he realised and then gleefully joined in the gunfight.

With the Jaffa defenders in disarray more troops started to pour into the battle straight from Earth via the stargate. The Jaffa were brave and determined and fought to the last but they were hopelessly outgunned and outflanked and bolstered by the addition personnel Sharp's forces finished the garrison off in a few scant minutes of vicious fighting.

The last sounds of battle were the screams of wounded Jaffa which tailed off as some were finished off as they attempted to fight on and others considered too badly wounded to save were put out of their misery. A few were disarmed and to their great surprise were then treated by Tau'ri medics who dressed their wounds and gave them painkilling drugs, it certainly didn't seem to fit in with the stories told of the evil Tau'ri, nor with the ferocity of the human warriors the injured Jaffa had witnessed moments before. They were truly a strange people one warrior decided as the needle stuck into his arm soothed the agony of the hole burned through both his armour and his chest.

'Alright listen up!' Sharp ordered at the top of his lungs as the troops eventually secured the area. 'Right up that trail is a Goa'uld Armaments Factory' he informed them, pointing North. 'We guessed that Apophis had his troops guard the gate for a good reason and that's it' he continued. 'The minimum time for the snakeheads to get a Hat'ak here is six hours according to the Tok'ra so I want everything worth taking back through the gate and all of us gone in five' he announced.

'Aw shit we're not going to be humping more Staff-Weapons about are we Sir?' an X-COM Trooper complained. He must have carried hundreds of the things back to stargates over the last few months and they weren't light.

'I said "worth taking" didn't I?' Sharp responded flatly. 'Leave the Staffs, just take out the Liquid-Naquadah power-cells and bring them back, there's probably crates of the things in the factory too' he said. 'The real prizes are Staff-Cannons, there should be a good number and those things are worth breaking a sweat to haul through the gate' he noted. 'And Shock-Grenades, everyone look out for those, they're damn useful and in short supply.'

'What about the machinery?' a Major asked.

'I'm not planning to dismantle a production line' Sharp replied. 'The Tok'ra that flew a few of us here will help you decide if anything small enough to take is worth taking but we're nuking anything that's left so don't worry about sabotage, there won't be enough of the place to worth rebuilding.'

'How about the workers?' the Major queried, 'slave labour like normal?'

'Yeah' Sharp confirmed. 'Some might be willing to give us a hand once we get the message across we're going to set them free but watch out for the ones that are Goa'uld Loyalists, there's always a few of the poor dumb brainwashed bastards that actually bought into the "gods" bullshit' he continued. 'Just zat them if they're being a pain in the ass' he advised.

'And the enemy prisoners Sir?' a medic asked, indicating one nearby he had just treated.

'Stabilise them, tie them up if necessary and leave them here' Sharp replied. 'Alien Containment is getting crowded and we don't ever get much useful information out of Jaffa anyway' he noted. 'Hopefully they'll spread the word that the Tau'ri aren't monsters but they'll get the point that we're not people to be fucked with either' he said.

Sharp looked back at the mushroom cloud, most other doing likewise. 'So...' he said slowly, 'does anybody think we've been too subtle in communicating the last part?' he asked with a grin.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – July 2001**

Janet Fraser had been wondering why she was called to General Hammonds office but she was more than surprised when she found not only the General, Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter but also her daughter Cassie who was sat in a chair directly across from the General. 'What did you do?' Janet asked the girl accusingly. 'You did it again didn't you?' she continued. 'Cassie you can't yell at people in the canteen just because they don't empty their own trays into the trash' she said in exasperation.

'I'm not in trouble Mom and thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt' Cassie replied with a glare. 'Anyhow I never wanted the job, you could have told Commander Sharp to get bent when he said he was serious about me paying them back for all the trouble they went to for me' she argued. It sucked helping out in the canteen, she thought with annoyance, she couldn't even flirt with cute guys because Jack there growled at any of the guys under twenty-five that flirted back and the rest treated her like a kid.

'I didn't ask Cassie to come here because she's done anything wrong' Hammond told Doctor Fraser. 'She's here because of the results of the tests she went through to determine any long-term effects of Nirti's gene-tampering' he said.

'She's not sick is she?' Janet said in horror.

'For God's sake Mom stop jumping to conclusions' Cassie retorted. 'Can't you just tell her?' she asked the General.

Hammond rubbed the palm of his left hand back over his bald head. In younger days he would have run his fingers through his hair but those days were long-gone unfortunately. 'Do you want to explain Major Carter?' he asked. 'You're understand this stuff better than me' he freely admitted.

'It's still a new field to me too Sir but I'll try' Carter replied. 'Janet, you know that Nirti was experimenting on the people of Hanka to try and develop a better host' she began, 'a Hok'tar or advanced human' she said. 'Well according to the tests our scientists did on Cassie she might have been more successful than she thought.'

'I think it was because I went through the Mind-Fire longer than anyone else' Cassie interrupted. 'Usually it was a few hours before teenagers went out to the forest' she noted. 'If it wasn't for the medical technology and drugs you have I'd have died' she said. 'On Hanka I would have' she added.

'Certainly possible' Carter conceded, 'but in any case although Nirti stabilised her it seems a lot of the changes to Cassie were permanent' she said. 'Scans using X-COM equipment such as mind-probes show that her brain formed numerous new connections...'

'Hence the telekinesis which would have been cool if I wasn't so hot' Cassie interjected. 'Sorry go on' she said seeing Sam's displeasure at the second interruption.

Carter gave the girl a look then continued. '... and there were other minor physiological changes as dormant genes activated' she finished. 'We know from research into sectoid psionics and genetics that there are clear propensities for psionic strength and skill which come from the Ancient Genes which the sectoids had added by Loki's genetic engineering' she continued, 'genes that certain humans share and which determine their ability to resist psionic attack and operate Ancient Technologies.'

'Some of us can't be mind-controlled' O'Neill spoke up with a smile, 'some can' he added looking at Carter with an amusement she didn't share.

'Correct' Carter was forced to agree. 'After considerable investigation X-COM Researchers determined a scale for psionic strength and skill in humans' she told Janet, 'both run from one to a hundred with the top being considered the maximum for a human being.

'Psionic strength ninety-eight' O'Neill said happily, pointing at himself. 'You made the low-teens didn't you Major?' he asked mischievously.

'Mid-to-high teens' Carter corrected him, narrowing her eyes. It was still far from impressive she had to admit.

'I'm sorry but I don't know where Cassie comes into this' Janet said.

Hammond leaned forward in his chair. 'X-COM tested Cassie to see what her PSI ratings were' he said. 'She burned out three sensing machines before they realised they were going to need a custom unit to determine her scores.'

'Too much voltage' Cassie joked. 'When they finally got one to work earlier today I thought the two guys watching the readout were going to faint' she continued. 'They just kept looking from the machine to me and back again.'

'Why wasn't I told about this?' Doctor Fraser demanded to know.

'I didn't want you to fuss' Cassie explained. 'It's not like any of the testing hurts' she said. 'So do you want to hear my scores?' she asked.

Janet Fraser frowned. 'Did you get the perfect hundred?' she asked. 'Is that what this is about?'

'No, in fact Cassie completely destroyed the scale' Carter responded.

'Three-hundred and Eighty-Seven' Cassie declared. 'In your face Jack' she said, playfully sticking her tongue out at O'Neill.

'What!' Doctor Fraser exclaimed.

'Three-hundred and Eighty-Seven' Cassie repeated.

'With a baseline psionic skill score of well over two hundred which can be improved with practice' Carter added. 'The X-COM Parapsychologists say that they think Cassie can be thought of as representing one of the final stages of pre-ascended human evolution' she continued.

'They were pissed when I melted all the wiring in that other gadget too' Cassie said with a chuckle. 'They thought it might give me the telekinesis back' she explained, 'but as soon as I put it in my hand and turned it on it went really hot like those chess pieces did, made a fizzle sound and smoke started pouring out of it' she told them. 'Like I said, too much voltage' she added, tapping the side of her head.

'Yes the psionic amplifier' Carter noted. 'They cost a hundred and sixty thousand dollars to manufacture and that's just the cost of the raw materials' she said. 'You completely fused the prototype' she told Cassandra.

'Don't tell the Commander, he'll have me working in the canteen until I'm thirty paying it off' Cassie requested.

'More to the point I think a larger danger is that he'd see if he could conscript you' Carter opined. 'We haven't witnessed a sectoid telepath with a fraction of your potential, if they can get a functioning psi-amp which you didn't overload you could probably force the Colonel here to stand on one leg, hop up and down and sing show-tunes.'

'Which isn't a serious suggestion right Major?' O'Neill said quickly.

'It would be an interesting test of her abilities given that ninety-eight score of yours Sir' Carter deadpanned.

'Conscript her?' Janet said. 'You wouldn't let them do that would you Sir?' she asked the General.

'Technically Cassandra isn't an American Citizen, nor even from this planet' Hammond replied. 'Legally I don't know where we'd stand' he admitted. 'She is human however and I think that makes her "one of us" from X-COM's perspective' he continued. 'They'll almost certainly want to study Cassie in more depth but I'm sure they'd much prefer for that to be entirely voluntary, their scientific personnel aren't as hard-line as their soldiers at least.'

'I don't mind' Cassie said, 'do you think they'd pay me?' she asked. 'I know what they pay you guys.'

'Some of us anyway' Hammond said. He was still on USAF pay which meant he wasn't remotely as well paid as O'Neill or Carter who were on X-COM wages.

'Cassie, these are not nice people' her mother warned.

'Mom, I know what Commander Sharp did to Nirti to force her to help me' Cassandra replied, 'I know they're not nice people' she said, not that it particularly bothered her that Sharp had tortured the bitch who had experimented on her and wiped out her entire people. 'But if they think I can help stop what happened to Hanka happening to Earth then I will' she said with determination. 'Everyone I loved died Mom' she said quietly, 'I still see them in my dreams sometimes' she continued, 'I never thought I could do anything about it until now but if I have this potential then I want to develop it and use it to defend the people I love now' she told them. And cheat at exams and read boys minds, she thought to herself happily, not realising that the latter would be deeply disturbing.

Janet Fraser shook her head. 'I just don't want them to use you Cassie' she said.

'It's my choice Mom' Cassie replied, making certain by her tone she meant that.

'You think it's going to be an adventure but think of the possible dangers' Doctor Fraser told her daughter. 'All this psionic stuff, it's all just unproven theory.'

'Having been put under mind-control and after seeing Cassie levitate something with my own eyes it's not all that theoretical' Carter noted, 'but I agree with your Mother that you need to think this through carefully' she advised the girl. 'We'll all back you if you decide not to go ahead with it.'

'We will' O'Neill agreed, General Hammond nodding his affirmation.

'Okay I give it some more thought before I tell them I want to go ahead with the research' Cassandra agreed.

'Good' her adoptive mother responded. That might be the best she could hope for.

'Hey at least you guys all know about the funky mental powers now' Cassie said. 'The Cassandra from Troy could see the future but nobody believed her' she noted.

'If you do become psychic and can see the future come to me when you want to make bets on the horses' O'Neill offered. 'You're too young to gamble and I'll only take a small percentage' he said generously. 'You only wish you'd thought to say it' he told the other three USAF personnel who had immediately glared at him.

'Cassie you have my permission to use Colonel O'Neill as a test subject and I expect to see a video of the results' General Hammond told the girl. 'The song "Gee, Officer Krupke" from the musical West Side Story would be an ideal accompaniment to the hopping' he suggested. 'Dismissed Colonel' he told O'Neill before he could raise any objection.

**Over the South Atlantic – Earth – July 2001**

With engagement ranges measured in single digit kilometres at most the fighter combat between the X-COM pilots and their uninvited Sectoid visitors more closely resembled a classic dogfight than the beyond visual range missile duels so many of the human pilots had trained for in their previous careers flying for the various Airforces they hailed from. The aliens utilised extremely advanced Stealth, ECM and ECCM technology which prevented a target lock at long range whereas they themselves couldn't use their own long-range radar analogues because when they did they found to their horror that X-COM immediately locked onto the active signal and used it to back-track their locations.

Sometimes it was so close that knife-fight might have been a better description of the action, Cameron Mitchell thought to himself as his F-302X _Reaper_ chased a wildly jinking Sectoid "Foo Fighter" through the sky above a choppy South Atlantic Ocean below.

'Stay still you little grey bastard' Mitchell hissed as he fired his laser cannon again, the beams narrowly missing the target because it slid sideways just as he pressed the firing button on his joystick. That was something that still pissed him off mightily, the new human fighter was faster than its opponent and more heavily armoured being both shielded and with an outer skin made from a laminate of Trinium, super-plastics and heat-resistant ceramic, but the Sectoid fighter-jocks still had the edge in manoeuvrability and their plasma cannon had a faster rate of fire.

The Sectoid Fighter banked left sharply to try and break away from its pursuer but Mitchell had correctly predicted the move and fired again, the twin laser cannon set into the wing-roots of his Reaper searing through the alien hull alloy and clearly hitting something important because the Foo Fighter almost seemed to stop dead in the air and then plummeted straight towards the ocean with all the grace and aerodynamic qualities of a brick. 'Can I get a hell yeah!' Mitchell yelled in triumph as the alien craft fell from the sky.

It was the shields that did it, Mitchell knew. If it wasn't for the fact that the Asgard modified deflectors worked properly in the atmosphere as well as it vacuum then the F-302X wouldn't have made the impact it had when they started entering the fray only a couple of weeks before. The enemy fighters usually got in the first hits but their fire was soaked up by the Reapers and it only took one or two decent laser strikes to splash a Foo Fighter. The Firestorms had the same shields but their performance was so far behind the opposition that they were at a grievous disadvantage in a dogfight and usually never got the opportunity to get a decent bead on the target because their deflectors were depleted by numerous plasma hits.

Mitchell watched another alien fighter zip past with a pair of Reapers on its ass. 'Get that son-of-bitch' he said as they fired at it repeatedly, bracketing it with fire between them, one eventually got lucky and must have hit the power-plant because the Foo Fighter exploded into fragments, the debris slamming into their shields as they flew through the remains.

A far larger flash of light in the distance indicated that the larger alien ship the fighters had been escorting had just been nuked by the Firestorm assigned to deal with it. It only made sense to detail the less agile craft to the task of taking out the relatively lumbering vessels whilst the Reapers cleaned up the Foo Fighters. An X-COM pilot from the RAF had noted that it was like the Battle of Britain, with the Reapers taking up the Spitfire role of dealing with the fighters and the Firestorms playing the part of the Hurricane shooting down the slower less manoeuvrable foes they were protecting.

The production lines at Area-51 and Yamantau were rolling out more F-302X's at a steady pace, replacing the Firestorms, captured Deathgliders and Sigrdrífa Interceptors which had been lost during the previous months and hopefully turning the tide of battle back in Earth's favour after the nasty period when the aliens had retained the initiative. The Sectoids had responded of course, already increasing the numbers of escorts for their forays to Earth but this wasn't making up for their losing what had been their gross performance edge over the human fighters. Reapers were being lost but in considerably lower numbers than the Foo Fighters, it was not a role reversal any combatant would welcome especially when X-COM was now churning out fighters quite a lot faster than the Sectoids were shooting them down.

The last remaining Foo Fighter of what had originally been seven before they were intercepted tried to make a run for it, heading for the safety of space at top atmospheric speed but it was chased down easily by Mitchell's flight of F-302X fighters, their much better power-to-weight ratios giving them better acceleration and a higher maximum speed. It was summarily gunned down and fell to the ocean in two roughly equal chunks after a freakishly lucky laser beam neatly cut it in half.

'Interceptor Control this is Shaft' Mitchell transmitted on the secure X-COM frequency, 'All bogeys in the water, no losses for our team' he reported. 'Unless you've got another place for us to be we're heading home to break out the beers' he announced.

'_This is Interceptor Control_' the radio responded, crackling to life. '_No other intruders on the geoscape return to base and well done_' it said.

'You heard the man' Mitchell transmitted to the other pilots, 'it's Beer O'Clock and the last one back to Fifty-One is buying' he said.

'_Aw come on do I get a head-start at least?_' came a protest from the Firestorm pilot. Unlike the lucky Reaper flyers his craft couldn't even make mach 6.5 whereas flat-out they could get up to over mach 9 in the atmosphere.

'What do you think?' Mitchell replied with a laugh.

'_I think that if you have to wait for me to reach the bar you'll be missing out on some drinking time_' the Firestorm pilot pointed out.

'We'll run up a tab in your name' Mitchell replied, 'see you later' he said and turned his fighter towards home. 'Meep meep' he added slamming the throttles forward.

'_I always wanted the coyote to win in the cartoons too_' the Firestorm pilot declared, turning his saucer-shaped craft to follow the rapidly disappearing Reapers towards Nevada.

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**_Note from the Author:_**

_Firstly because the powers-that-be here at have decided to stop us formatting these stories how we want you will now find XSGCOM on Twisting the Hellmouth too. I will continuing posting chapters here but the version at TtH is better so I advise you follow the story there instead. There's a link on my profile._

_Regarding the story I decided having P4A-771 as yet another world where the Jaffa were there to guard naquadah mines would be dull. It was fairly heavily defended in the series and we never found out why so I thought why not a weapons factory? The Goa'uld had to be making the things somewhere right?_

_I think the notion of Cassie having excessive psi power potential makes sense given the situation and the link I made between the Ancient Gene, ascension and X-COM universe Psionics. She did leviate that chess piece with her mind in the show and we also saw Daniel Jackson demonstrate telekinesis when he downloaded Merlin's mind into his own. Nirti wasn't quite there in perfecting the Hok'tar but with X-COM Psi training and tech they can bridge the remaining gap between her potential and her abilities... And yes we will eventually see Cassie with a souped-up Psi-Amp take on an Ori Prior and his Staff ;-)_

_No prizes for spotting the Farscape references in Mitchell's section (as ever I couldn't resist), it was also mentioned in SG-1 that Shaft was his callsign, as in Cam-Shaft._

_Reviews are nice, just thought I'd mention that ;-)_


	15. Chapter 15

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

_Just to reiterate what I said in the notes for Chapter 14, the version of XSGCOM on Twisting the Hellmouth is better than this one. There's a link on my profile._

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**Curia Building - Tollana – August 2001**

Ambassador Joseph Faxon smiled at High Chancellor Travell, it was only his second meeting with the head of the Tollan Curia since he arrived to take over the position which had been temporarily held by Elizabeth Weir and he was still amazed by the fact he was on an alien world, treating with an extra-terrestrial human government. 'It's a pity perhaps I agree' he said, 'but you must realise that the days when you could rely for your defence on nothing but your Ion Cannons may be numbered' he told her. 'You can bet your bottom dollar...' he began then paused, 'that's a unit of currency' he explained, 'that if Apophis defeats the other System Lords he _will_ come after you shortly afterwards.'

The High Chancellor smiled back. 'Although not a warrior people the sophistication of our defence technology far exceeds that of the Goa'uld and you perhaps underestimate how formidable a weapon our Ion Cannon's are' she replied, earning nods from the other members of the Curia sat to her left and right along their side of the conference table.

Faxon half turned towards Elizabeth Weir who gave him a knowing smile of her own. The Tollan often seemed more than a touch condescending to their Tau'ri guests, using a tone of voice as if you would to children and she had warned him about it before they left the Embassy for this meeting. He was formulating a well worded diplomatic reply when Colonel O'Neill laughed, immediately gaining everyone's attention.

'Does something amuse you Colonel?' High Chancellor Travell asked.

O'Neill looked her in the eye. 'I was just remembering what happened to those formidable Ion Cannon's the last time the Goa'uld attacked' he said. 'If it wasn't for us getting Lya to hide one you'd all being getting whipped in a naquadah mine right now' he told her.

'Colonel' Weir responded sharply in rebuke, for his part Daniel who was sat between them grimaced. It might have been better to pick a more diplomatic military representative but as the leader of the flagship SG Team the job had fallen to O'Neill. The rest of SG-1 were either back at the Embassy or in Sam's case she had been invited to lunch by Narim who still seemed to hold a torch for her. Sergeant Andianov had however observed that Sam herself seemed to be more interested in Joseph Faxon despite only a few brief conversations between them. When Daniel had replied that he hadn't noticed that himself and wondered if she was imagining it Andianov pointed out that he was a man and therefore utterly clueless regarding that sort of thing. For his part Teal'c mentioned that his wife had frequently correctly predicted developing bond-pairings which he had been oblivious to and that he sometimes suspected females to possess mild telepathic abilities. Andianov told him it was just that men were dense and he admitted his wife had also offered a similar explanation.

High Chancellor Travell raised her hand to indicate it was okay. 'We remember the debt of gratitude we owe to your people for that' she said, 'but rest assured it won't happen again' she continued, 'the Goa'uld would not be allowed free-rein to... what was the word?' she said trying to remember the term the Tau'ri used, 'paint... our Cannon for destruction in a pre-emptive attack again' she told them confidently.

'That's all well and good High Chancellor' Faxon commented, 'but how would you cope with the sudden arrival of dozens of Goa'uld Hat'ak ships appearing in orbit above you simultaneously.'

'We would destroy them' another Curia member stated.

'All of them?' Faxon asked seriously. 'Before any could launch a volley of fire from their main guns which our own military experts tell me could lay waste to much of this region at a stroke?' he continued. 'Are you absolutely certain of that?'

'The Goa'uld don't care about Jaffa losses, and if he's defeated the other System Lord's Apophis won't care about losing a fair percentage of his fleet to wipe out an advanced human civilisation like yours' Daniel opined. 'You care about your people, he doesn't' he said flatly, 'he'll accept a few dozen destroyed Hat'aks to win, how many hundred thousand Tollan deaths would you be willing to have on your conscience?' he asked rhetorically, 'they'll grind you down by weight of numbers until you surrender and then all hope is lost' he told the Curia members, looking along the line.

Omoc sat at the very end of the line of Curia members leaned forward. 'And I suppose this is when you say we need to give you advanced weapons to fight the Goa'uld so you can protect us?' he asked knowingly.

'No because even to a newcomer like me it's clear that's not going to happen' Faxon replied. 'The only alternative is that we do our best to equip you to defend yourselves' he added with a wry smile. 'If not with technology so much as ideas on how best to use the technology you have in a manner you may not have considered' he explained.

'You're on Colonel, this is your field of expertise not mine' Weir told O'Neill.

'Thank you' O'Neill responded, meshing his fingers on the table in front of him. 'What you guys need is deterrence' he told the Tollan, 'you need something that will make the Goa'uld too damn scared to attack you and that doesn't mean defence, that means retaliation' he stated.

'Retaliation?' Omoc queried.

'Right' O'Neill confirmed, 'you need Apophis and all the other System Lords to know that even if they _did_ conquer Tollana they'd be risking their own sorry asses in the process' he said. 'They might be willing to lose a few Hat'aks but they'll think twice if they were risking whole worlds' he opined, standing up so to give his delivery more force.

'On Earth we call it MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction' Daniel observed, 'Or sometimes the Balance of Terror' he added.

'And MAD is a lot saner than it sounds' O'Neill noted. 'Okay here's how it works back home' he began. 'The major military powers each keep an arsenal of nuclear weapons to deter each other from attacking' he explained. 'It's pretty simple, you nuke us and we'll nuke you back, back to the stone-age if things ever got too nasty' he continued. 'Now one problem is that someone might launch a sneak attack, like the Goa'uld did to you before, trying to knock out your weapons on the ground before launch' he said, 'so how we do it is that we hide submarines in the ocean with nukes aboard as a guarantee against that, even a sneak attack doesn't mean you don't get blown all to hell in retaliation.'

'We know from the story of Serita that you have the technology to create inordinately powerful weapons that can cause planetary-level destruction' Daniel said.

'That technology was misused by the Seritans' Travell responded. 'It was that misuse which not only destroyed Serita but meant that the original Tollan homeworld had to be abandoned.'

'Yeah but it still went boom and you must know how to do it yourselves' O'Neill replied. 'We can't build anything that powerful, and we haven't seen the Goa'uld demonstrate that kind of firepower either' he said. 'So there's your deterrent' he noted, 'tell them if they attack Tollana you'll blow the crap out of them' he explained. 'Point them towards what's left of Serita so they can check it out for themselves you're not bluffing when you say you can do it and then sit back and find out how much balls they really have' he said with a grin. 'It ain't much' he declared confidently.

'We've given you our designs for a Hyperdrive that is as fast as contemporary Goa'uld vessels' Faxon noted. 'That gives you ability to get to their worlds' he said.

'And you use your phase-shifting technology on those ships to hide them' O'Neill added. 'We hide our ultimate deterrent on submarines, you put yours on ships that can't be seen' he suggested. 'We've seen you guys walk through walls so I guess you could even put some of your ships inside planets where the Goa'uld could never get to them' he queried. 'Make sure the Goa'uld know all about it' he advised, 'demonstrate that you've got ships as fast as them, tell them they carry those Ion Cannons of yours too and tell them very loudly that they carry planet-busting bombs and that if they come calling uninvited of you then you'll come calling on them and you won't be in a good mood.'

'You expect us to slaughter millions?' High Chancellor Travell asked in horror.

'No' O'Neill replied, 'you won't have to' he stated with certainty.

'One of the defining traits of the Goa'uld is that they are not only self-serving but they're also obsessed with self-preservation' Daniel noted. 'The System Lords won't attack you if they think there's a reasonable possibility of the kind of response you're technologically capable of.'

Omoc frowned. 'We wouldn't have thought in these terms' he said.

'We know' Elizabeth Weir replied, 'you're really _not_ a warlike people' she said, 'and personally I find your non-expansionist neutrality refreshing, but from what I've learned about the rest of the galaxy the near utopian society you've created here is endangered by forces beyond your control.'

'I'll admit it, technologically we _are_ primitive compared to you' O'Neill told the members of the Curia, 'but in other ways you're damn naive' he said, 'it's a big bad galaxy and you're too advanced to be so damn optimistic' he continued, 'frankly from our perspective Tollan Foreign and Defence Policy amounts to cross your fingers and hope for the best.'

'Cross your fingers?' Travell queried in confusion.

Daniel demonstrated. 'People on Earth do this for good luck' he explained. 'It's only a superstition of course' he said, 'more reasoned people make their own luck through their actions' he added meaningfully.

'We would have to discuss this in great depth in the Curia, and likely put any such decision to the entire population in a referendum' the High Chancellor said. 'I can see your argument but it is a radical shift from a policy that has served the Tollan people well for many centuries' she said.

'Rest assured that Earth stands ready to offer our Tollan friends any advice or counsel you might require' Faxon replied.

'We might be unevolved but we're good at war' O'Neill remarked. 'Or maybe because of it' he theorised.

Weir couldn't help but sadly agree, the thing that bothered her most was that it was likely the only thing that gave the Tau'ri any hope of survival. What they currently lacked in technology or resources the humans of Earth made up for in the fact that thousands of years of continual warfare had bought them to a level of sheer proficiency in military matters nobody else seemed to match.

In the long-term the real question perhaps was what the galaxy would be like when Earth had broad technological parity with its rivals as well.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2001**

Doctor Fraser showed the results of her investigations to General Hammond before dropping the clipboard onto her desk. They were alone in the infirmary which was good because she wasn't sure how certain people might react to the news, she had wanted to talk it over with the General before confronting Commander Sharp who should arrive in five minutes or so. The Commander had only just returned from the latest wave of attacks on the logistical supply lines of Apophis Fleet and had been about to head into Colorado Springs to find a bar when Fraser had sent him a note asking him to come see her.

'Drugs?' Hammond said incredulously. 'They're all on drugs?' he asked in astonishment.

Janet Fraser nodded. 'Various kinds' she confirmed. 'None of them showed up on any routine screening though a few were clearly developments of compounds I'm partially familiar with' she said. 'If I had to guess they're probably taking a combination of experimental performance enhancing drugs and have been for some time' she told him. 'I was doing some random testing of blood samples checking for traces of off-world viruses or bacteria and I noticed something odd about all the samples from X-COM personnel' she said. 'I had their samples put through a mass spectrometer and found all sorts of things that shouldn't have been in there' Fraser told him.

'You mean like steroids?' Hammond asked.

'Yes there's at least one anabolic steroid in there' Doctor Fraser confirmed, 'but there are also Erythropoietin-like hormones which increase both the number of red blood cells and the individual ability of those cells to carry oxygen' she said. Additional chemicals appear to have a neurological effect on how the fight-or-flight reflex is triggered, and possibly increase aggression, and amongst other physical performance enhancing drugs there are several types of Nootroopics.'

Hammon frowned. 'Nootropic?' he queried.

'Cognitive Enhancers' Doctor Fraser explained. 'They improve brain function' she continued, 'improved memory, faster reaction times, increased awareness, focus and alertness' she listed then paused. 'Haven't you ever noticed how some of the X-COM people sometimes seem to have this "ready to pounce" look about them?' she asked rhetorically.

General Hammond shrugged. 'I put it down to them all being unhinged because of the PTSD' he replied honestly.

'That's probably a factor too but at least to some extent it's the chemicals floating around their systems' Fraser told him. 'The effects seem to be cumulative over time although they would eventually plateau because you can't push the human body or mind too far' she said. 'Those X-COM personnel who survive the first few missions get better fast because they've been enhanced with various pharmaceuticals' she told him. 'They have greater awareness which added to improved recall means they learn at an accelerated rate' she continued. 'Better oxygen transfer in the blood means greater endurance and the steroids mean they get stronger too.'

'I'm guessing there's a major downside' Hammond asked.

Fraser nodded. 'They cannot _possibly_ know what the long-term side-effects will be' she replied. 'Or for that matter what the medium-term effects will be on their psyches' she added. 'You'd never get approval to dose anyone up with this cocktail' she stated with certainty. 'Looking at the Nootropic's alone I found a Piracetam derivative, Aniracetam, Nicergoline and Sulbutiamine' she said. 'It's almost a witches brew' she said with distaste.

'The short-term effects of _not_ taking them was the extreme likelihood of being killed by plasma fire so we decided it was worth it' Commander Russell Sharp interrupted. 'We were wondering when you'd find out, took longer than I thought it would but I guess our geeks were right about the stuff not being easy to detect' he said, walking into the infirmary and closing the door behind him. 'Sorry for arriving early and listening at the door but my chemically boosted paranoia kicked in' he told them wryly.

'You've been experimenting on your own men' Fraser said, finger pointing in accusation. 'Do they know they're guinea-pigs?' she asked angrily.

'Yes and they're all volunteers, myself included of course' Sharp replied. 'You didn't honestly think we were _naturally_ so much better than regular Special Forces did you?' he asked with amusement. 'We only give the pills and injections to the ones that have survived a few missions first so they get over any reluctance they might have for obtaining an edge by any means necessary' he told them. 'I wouldn't have taken the stuff until I saw first-hand what we were up against myself either' he said. 'After my Road to Damascus moment I'd have let them inject me with anything they wanted' he said honestly.

'I cannot believe that X-COM got UN approval for something like this' Hammond declared.

'We didn't, this was just something our own R&D guys cooked up' Sharp replied, 'the bleeding heart liberals would never have signed off on a plan to pump us grunts full of mostly untested pharmaceuticals' he continued, 'it was all done on our own initiative' he told them. 'And we would have got away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids' he deadpanned.

'You think this is funny?' Doctor Fraser asked irately. 'This is verging on Doctor Frankenstein territory' she declared. 'This is the sort of thing I'd expect from Loki or Nirti' she declared.

Sharp chuckled. 'Sometimes I forget how soft you are' he replied. 'X-COM Troops expect to die in combat' he told them, 'even with our fancy high-tech medkits, and that sarcophagus we've got these days it's only a matter of time before we meet the plasma bolt with our name on it' he said. 'The drugs help push that time back and also mean we get an opportunity to take a few more aliens with us to Valhalla' he said. 'Victory at any costs, self-sacrifice is our watchword remember' he continued. 'Now don't be too scathing, the USAF gives its pilots amphetamine-based "go-pills" we just take the notion of better soldiering through chemistry a few stages further.'

'This stuff might _kill_ you' Fraser pointed out forcefully.

'I know' sharp replied evenly, 'it hasn't turned my brain into a bucket's worth of mush _yet_' he told her, 'but my guess is an eventual nice quick cerebral aneurysm being as how I'm an optimist, some of the guys think we'll all get cancer instead though' he added.

'What about the possible mood altering effects, have you considered if you're fit to command?' Doctor Fraser asked seriously.

'I'll give you authorisation to look at my X-COM psych evaluations' Sharp replied, 'according to our shrinks I'm just crazy enough to do my job properly without having a mental breakdown' he told them. 'I've got that scheduled for after the war' he said, 'no time to waste going insane when there's still extra-terrestrials to fight' he joked.

'I'll have to report this all to my superiors' Hammond told Sharp.

'Of course George' Sharp responded, 'it's your duty' he told him. 'They'll make some noise and so will the Security Council but in the end they'll accept it's a fait accompli' he said confidently. 'The Sectoids and the Goa'uld are too much of a clear and present danger to worry about trivial crap like this' he told them. 'We all signed waivers and knew the possible consequences before we swallowed the pills and had the needles stuck in our arms' he continued. 'The only difference is going to be we won't have to be so secretive about it from now on.'

'You don't honestly think they'll sweep this under the carpet do you' Fraser asked.

'Of course I do, we've been covering up _alien invasions_ from the public, they're not going to do anything about a few scientists ignoring FDA rules on human-testing or whatever' Sharp replied with conviction. 'More than half our scientists and engineers are taking the stuff too' he revealed. 'That's part of the reason we're so damn good, we take the very best in every field and make them better' he continued. 'We don't give any more of a crap about health and safety rules than we do about patent law, we get stuff done fast because our lab geeks can work longer and harder and they don't mind cutting corners on safety to speed things up' he said. 'Nobody ever asks how we do it because the people at the top don't care about the methods they only care about the results.'

Hammond shook his head sadly. 'Nobody might have ever known' he realised.

'None of us grunts would have ratted out the guys who came up with the idea and the politicians wouldn't have investigated' Sharp replied. 'It would have been X-COM's little secret' he said.

'Do you really all care so little for your own lives?' Fraser asked quietly. 'You do know that the EPO hormone they give you can cause cardiovascular problems as well as being linked to an increased likelihood of tumours?' she asked.

'Yeah but you should see how much faster I can run the ten-thousand metres now' Sharp replied. 'The cognitive enhancers might do something nasty to my brain too but I'll take that risk for the better memory and quicker reactions' he continued. 'Hey you'd be surprised at how many points higher my IQ tests out as now' he said brightly.

'Pity the drugs clearly haven't improved your common-sense too Commander' Fraser snapped back. She was a doctor and a humanitarian so to her human life was far too precious to be treated in such a cavalier fashion.

'I can direct you to a large number of both former commanding officers and girlfriends that would assure you that there's not a pharmaceutical made that's capable of that feat Doctor' Sharp replied. 'I might take stimulants other than spinach but like Popeye said "I am what I am".'

The Commander later wished he had chosen other words because once the news spread along with Doctor Frasers detailing of the conversation he could have done without the less than fearsome nom-de-guerre of "Sharpy the X-COM Man".

**High Orbit - Kawawn – August 2001**

'According to the information our spy in Bastet's ranks told us we should expect the enemy fleet to arrive very soon My Lord' the Jaffa stood before him reported to Zipacna.

'Is the entire fleet concealed?' the Goa'uld asked, leaning back in his throne-like chair on the Hat'aks bridge.

'Yes My Lord' the Jaffa replied. 'They will not know they have walked into a trap until we open fire' he declared. 'Their losses will surely cripple their ongoing counter-offensive as you predicted.'

Zipacna nodded. 'Lord Apophis will be pleased by our victory' he said then smirked 'Execute any prisoners we recover from the wreckage of their ships' he ordered.

'It will be done My Lord' the Jaffa responded, turning to head back to his duty station.

The sheer size of Apophis fleet and the scale of the war meant that he couldn't possibly run the entire enterprise himself and had delegated some control to associates of proven loyalty, or at least known sycophancy such as Zipacna who could always be relied upon to faithfully serve any System Lord who was in the ascendant. Given command of a medium-sized fleet of Hat'ak vessels for the past three months Zipacna had been fighting with some moderate success against the combined forces of Bastet, Amaterasu and Kali whilst Apophis himself spearheaded the fight against Lord Yu and the rest of the coalition of System Lords arraigned against him. Initially the coalition had proved more effective than Apophis had expected stopping his advance and then pushing him back several systems but soon he had rallied his forces and the fighting was now one of attrition with Apophis seeking to wear his opponents down, relying on his superior numbers and the greater industrial base he had inherited from Sokar to win the day.

In some ways being on the defensive had also helped Apophis, his Hat'ak's possessed cloaking devices that the other System Lords only had fitted to a limited number of far smaller craft such as Tel'taks and this offered the possibly of ambush which had become a favourite tactic of Zipacna in particular. As soon as news arrived of a coalition attack being planned against Kawawn, one of Apophis principle mining planets, Zipacna had arranged this warm reception for them, a simultaneous decloaking and point-blank volley from the main guns on his Hat'aks would cause both heavy damage and disorder in the fleets of the three female System Lords before the fleets clashed in earnest.

After another victory Apophis was bound to offer Zipacna his own small empire, carved from those of the vanquished, the Goa'uld thought happily to himself. He harboured no ambition to be an independent System Lord in his own right, remaining a vassal with a few worlds to rule and a few million slaves to lord it over was all he wanted which is why he was going to survive and prosper while others fell by the wayside. Zipacna had known which way the wind was blowing as soon as Apophis took command of Sokar's legions and had quickly returned to the service of his former master, noting that he had also loyalty served Clorel his heir.

'Vessels emerging from hyperspace My Lord' a Jaffa reported. 'They appear to be those we expected' he continued.

'Number?' Zipacna asked.

'Twelve Hat'ak's' the Jaffa answered, 'four each from the fleets of Ametsaru, Kali and Bastet' he noted.

'Excellent' Zipacna responded. 'We outnumber them as well as enjoying the element of surprise' he noted with satisfaction. 'This should be an easy victory' he said.

'They are closing on the planet' the Jaffa announced. 'Approaching optimum firing range' he continued then checked his console. 'Five more vessels emerging from hyperspace' he said.

Zipacna sighed, if they were going to be more evenly matched in numbers he was likely to lose some ships even if victory itself was still guaranteed. 'Who's ships are they?' he asked, not that it matter which of the bitches had sent them.

The Jaffa turned. 'The other Hat'aks belong to Lord Baal' he reported.

'Baal?' Zipacna repeated with a frown. 'You are certain?' he checked.

'Yes My Lord' the Jaffa confirmed. 'The vessels are forming up with the others.'

'Our Master Apophis said he expected Baal to enter the fray in time' Zipacna said thoughtfully. 'We will make him regret siding with our enemies' he added. 'Prepare to decloak and open fire' he commanded. 'Make sure that at least one of the vessels destroyed in the first salvo is from Baal's fleet' he ordered.

'The enemy ships are firing upon us!' the Jaffa exclaimed in shock as the five vessels belonging to Baal opened up, somehow targeting them despite the cloak.

With cloaks engaged the Hat'aks were unable to fully power their shields and seconds later two of Zipacna's ships exploded as they were ripped apart by a storm of incoming plasma fire. The rest including his own immediately decloaked and powered up their shields as the ships of the three female System Lords joined in the fight.

Things continued to degenerate for Apophis's forces from that point, the ships belonging to Baal not only seemed to possess technology that could see cloaked vessels but their weapons were notably more powerful than a standard Hat'ak and their shields must have been upgraded too because even concentrated fire from several of Zipacna's own ships failed to overwhelm them.

Zipacna watched as two more of his Hat'aks exploded joining the remains of others which were starting to litter the area, pieces would be falling to Kawawn and burning up in the atmosphere for years to come. One of Bastet's ships and two of Kali's had been destroyed as well and other enemy vessels had been damaged enough to retreat but Baal's forces continued to fight on unscathed and relentlessly engaged and destroyed on Hat'ak after another.

'Prepare to withdraw' Zipacna ordered, 'have those ships which are already damaged stay and cover our retreat' he commanded. 'Lord Apophis must be told of this and we cannot risk losing any more ships' he declared, hoping that it would prove a good enough excuse for Apophis not to have him executed for running away.

Sat on the bridge of one of his own Hat'aks Baal watched in satisfaction as Zipacna fled into hyperspace. 'A successful test of our improved ships wouldn't you say Nerus?' he asked the unusually fat and unattractive Goa'uld stood to his right.

'My integration of the upgraded sensor, shield and weapon designs provided by Anubis into our fleet has gone very well Sire' Nerus replied, before taking another swig from the crystal goblet in his right hand. 'It seems likely that the ships Anubis is building himself will be even more powerful however' he warned. 'Perhaps even a match for the Asgard in sufficient numbers.'

Baal nodded, Anubis would almost certainly kept the very best technology back for his own use giving his temporary ally only enough of an advantage to help mitigate the continuing numerical superiority of Apophis over the entire coalition. 'When we land troops to take over the mines inspect the machinery for signs of sabotage and determine if we can increase production' he told Nerus. 'I want as much ore as possible transferred back to our shipyards' he ordered then looked him over in distaste. 'And we're at war which means skip lunch and no fooling around with slavegirls when you should be working' he added.

Known for his "many appetites" Nerus sighed dejectedly. Unfortunately Baal himself was known for his many inventive punishments when crossed so he decided to do as he was told.

'Your plan worked excellently too' Baal told the woman stood to his left. 'Turning an ambush back on itself was a masterstroke' he said. 'I thought you'd like to witness it yourself' he continued, 'you can return home now and give my thanks to the rest of the Tok'ra for providing such first-rate intelligence on the deployments of Apophis forces.'

'You're welcome' Zarin replied offering a somewhat ironic bow to her supposed master before turning to leave. A Tel'tak would transport her back to the worlds she continued to rule in his name despite being now known as an agent of the Tok'ra. As long as Apophis remained a greater threat to both of them than they were to each other Baal and the usually despised Tok'ra were allies of convenience.

Baal watched the Tok'ra leave, he could never take the likes of her as a Queen of course but she would make a nice living trophy once things were back to a semblance of normality. She talked back and he liked the verbal sparring and the mutual dislike of each others near-identical races provided a nice spark.

'I wonder if the Tok'ra have informed the Tau'ri of our more recently amiable contact with them?' Nerus asked curiously.

'Doubtful' Baal replied, 'they're naturally duplicitous and secretive' he opined. 'We can use that to divide them when the time comes.'

'Planning for the next war already?' Nerus asked.

'Next but one' Baal replied, 'after Apophis we'll have to deal with Anubis' he said. 'The Tok'ra and the Tau'ri are third-rate threats by comparison.'

Nerus nodded, what could a dwindling number of traitors and some primitive humans do to the System Lords other than provide an irritant to be scratched out one day?

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Joe Faxon was the human Ambassador to the Aschen in Episodes 2010 and 2001. In the former he was married to Carter so I guess they must have had a spark. He seemed a likely candidate for the long-term Ambassador to Tollana (and once again meant I didn't have to invent a character for myself)._

_Regarding the drugs I've been tempted to mention this little twist of sorts ever since I plotted out XSGCOM but I didn't want to offer my view on how X-COM Troops improved so much until I was a good way into the story. After over a year for them to demonstrate their continued sanity (of sorts) despite the drugs the SGC isn't going to react anywhere near as badly to the revelation as they would have at the beginning. Erythropoietin (often known as EPO) does exist and does increase stamina and endurance, the Nootropic drugs I mentioned also exist and improve memory, reaction times, alertness etc etc. Nobody in their right mind would take all this stuff together unless they had a very good reason though._

_So there's my angle on why X-COM veterans are so damn mean, they take the very best Special Forces from around the world, kill off the ones that aren't truly exceptional and pump the survivors full of various pharmaceuticals so they get even better. __Incidentally the part about the USAF today issuing pilots amphetamine "Go-Pills" is true and has a distinguished military antecedence of sorts. One of the secrets of the German Blitzkreig in WWII was that they gave their troops Pervitin, another methamphetamine which kept them sharp and wide awake for extended periods._

_Kawawn is a major naquadah mining planet belonging to Apophis mentioned by Teal'c in the show. Also Anubis's ships showed they could detect cloaked vessels in the series which is useful considering Apophis could cloak his Hat'aks originally built by Sokar. Known smirking sycophant Zipacna would have been surprised by this hence the whupping he took here._

_Baal's upgraded Hat'aks here are quite a bit better than standard but still generally inferior to the ones built by Anubis who I'm sure would want to retain a technological edge over a mere ally of convenience. Baal does however have Nerus who seemed to be about the best Goa'uld scientist in the show so there's room for some further enhancements for Baal's team there. For his part Apophis of course did have a design for an improved Hat'ak of his own (the prototype of which SG-1 destroyed in episode 4:03 "Upgrades") so he does have the demonstrated ability to close the tech gap up again too._

_Reviews are always welcome._


	16. Chapter 16

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Aschen Harvester - P3A-194 (former Vollian Union) – August 2001**

One thing that Colonel O'Neill _hadn't_ expected when the Aschen were confronted with the evidence SG-1 had found in the underground ruins of the Vollian city was for them to so readily admit what they had done to the unfortunate Vollians two centuries earlier. Releasing a genetically engineered plague then offering a "cure" which incidentally rendered the vast majority of the population sterile was close to being one of the most despicable acts O'Neill had ever heard of, and after years of fighting the Goa'uld that was saying something.

It was damn fortunate for the galaxy that the Aschen Confederation was isolated by circumstance from everyone else. They had control of a small number of star systems relatively near their homeworld which they had reached via spaceship, and they possessed the stargates that linked P3A-194 with their own planet which was apparently P4C-970, but like the Tollan their indigenously developed hyperdrive technology was relatively slow and both of their stargates lacked the DHD's needed to account for stellar drift over time. This meant they had never expanded very far and although advanced enough to actually convert a Gas-Giant planet into a star as they had in the Vollian System they were nonetheless not the major power in the galaxy they potentially could have been.

Recalled from Tollana early Elizabeth Weir had been given the job of negotiating with the Aschen and she couldn't say she was enjoying it. At least the Tollan for all their technological advancement didn't think that other less-advanced peoples were worthless like these people apparently did, or perhaps used to. Spearing Mollem, the lone Aschen official present, with a look across the small briefing table she made sure to voice her comments as calmly as possible. 'So you freely admit what you did to the people of this world?' she asked. 'That you snuffed out their entire civilisation?'

'Yes' Mollem replied flatly, 'please keep in mind that it occurred a long time ago however' he added.

The Aschen were far from stupid, they knew that trying to pretend their sterilisation and stealthy conquest of the Vollian Union never happened might fail, and if caught out in the lie they would look very bad to these primitive, though presumably more dangerous than they looked Earth people, so they had prepared a cover-story if discussions turned for the worst.

'What do you mean it happened a long time ago?' O'Neill retorted. 'Do you think that makes it alright?' he asked sarcastically. He was very pleased that the rest of SG-1 with plenty of firepower were by the gate, if anything unpleasant happened they were ready to demonstrate to the Aschen that being centuries behind in technology overall didn't mean that Earth didn't still have some very nasty hardware. In the worst case scenario the SGC would throw some very large naquadah-enhanced nukes through the gates to both here and the Aschen homeworld which would at least give even the most advanced societies pause for thought regarding messing with the Tau'ri.

Mollem's expression did not change in response to O'Neill's obvious hostility. 'No of course not but although our average lifespans are perhaps twice yours according to the information we have already shared, you must remember that it has been over two centuries since the Confederation came to this world' he noted, 'many decades have passed since the last member of the administration of that time died of old age' he said. 'Is there no action of the government of your own nation within the last two centuries that you would not now regret and wish to change if you could?' he asked.

O'Neill opened his mouth to retort but then realised what the United States was still doing to the Native Americans barely more than a single century ago. Just because the Aschen government used to be evil assholes didn't mean they still necessarily _were_ so maybe he should be willing to give them a bit more of the benefit of the doubt. 'Okay I see your point' he conceded. You couldn't automatically hold someone guilty for a crime their ancestors committed.

'You need to understand our situation' Mollem told them. 'The habitable areas of our homeworld are densely populated and highly industrialised' he said. 'We have too many mouths to feed with the farmland available so we rely upon grain supplies from here to sustain our population' he continued. 'The situation deteriorated sharply a short time before our spaceships found the Vollian Union and our leaders at that time decided that we deserved the agricultural output of this world more than the people originally living here did.'

'Because you were a couple of hundred years more advanced?' Weir asked.

'That was the justification made' Mollem replied.

Elizabeth Weir thought about what Mollem had said and this raised a question. 'Why did your population problems get worse so quickly?' she queried.

'We developed new techniques for increasing the lifespans of our people' Mollem explained. 'Unfortunately we had not fully considered...'

'That less people dying is more people to feed' Weir finished for him.

'Exactly' Mollem responded. 'We have conquered almost all forms of disease, we live over twice as long as our ancestors' he continued. 'There are simply too many Aschen for a single world to accommodate' he said. 'The most extreme elements said we should simply release biological warfare agents to kill all the Vollian's at a stroke but that was deemed too immoral, even when we ourselves were facing famine' he told them. 'Instead our government used more subtle means.'

'Sterilise ninety percent of the population and just wait for them to die out' Weir replied.

'Yes' Mollem confirmed. Taken as a whole it was a very well-considered lie given that it was in fact mostly an accurate version of the events and would therefore stand up to scrutiny if investigated, the only deviation from the truth was that the current Aschen government would still be perfectly willing to do what their great-grandparents did. They didn't feel guilty about what they did to the Vollians whatsoever and would happily do the same to these Tau'ri if given the opportunity.

'I suppose that's easier to live with than slaughtering them' O'Neill remarked with a snort.

'The Vollian Union was a century less advanced than you are now when we encountered them' Mollon noted, 'we had faster-than-light starships and they had the internal combustion engine' he continued. 'We could have easily blasted wiped them out from orbit but even at a time when our own children were starving we would not kill theirs so callously.'

'But you would happily ensure they wouldn't have any more?' Weir commented.

'It was a difficult decision which I am glad the current government does not have to make' Mollem told them. 'Our population is stable and thanks largely to food shipments through the stargate from the farms here nobody goes hungry.'

'Covered up the whole story from the remaining Vollians though didn't you?' O'Neill pointed out.

'What's done is done' Mollem replied. 'Do we mistreat the Vollians in any way other than hide their past from them?' he asked.

'To me that's bad enough' O'Neill told him. 'What your ancestors did to theirs was monstrous.'

'I agree but what do you expect us to do about it now?' Mollem asked rhetorically. 'We try to make amends in a small way by providing the Vollians with medical and other technologies that make their lives better' he said. 'You have talked to the people here, do they consider us oppressive invaders?' he asked.

O'Neill frowned. 'No' he conceded. Keel, the farmer that lived closest to the stargate with his family hadn't had anything bad to say about the Aschen, in return for his grain they provided medicine, machinery and help when requested and otherwise left him alone to do whatever the hell he wanted, he was inordinately better off than he would have been under the Goa'uld at least.

'We know that you are unlikely to trust us in the circumstances but the Aschen Confederation hopes that you will come to do so in time' Mollem told Weir. 'You have both stargate addresses and the knowledge on how to correct for stellar drift plus more advanced hyperdrives to offer' he said. 'We can trade teleportation technology, medicines and far more' he said. 'An alliance or at least continuing friendly contact would be advantageous to both parties' he continued, 'especially given the goa'uld threat you have made us aware of.'

'You guys are way more advanced than the Goa'uld' O'Neill pointed out.  
'We control a small number of worlds, we do not have a vast navy to protect us and what vessels we have are slower than theirs' Mollem replied. 'We do not keep a large standing military, the most dangerous weapons we could produce in a short space of time would be biological, thanks to our mastery of genetic engineering, but the ability to poison the air of their worlds would not help us when they send ships through the vacuum of space.'

'Oh for crying out loud why can't we ever meet an advanced human civilisation who's got a proper damn armed forces' O'Neill complained. Although he did wonder if the idea of the Aschen with a decent fleet might have bothered him even more, they had no sense of humour and frankly gave him the creeps.

'When did we ever need one?' Mollem asked reasonably. 'Perhaps given our more comparable technological base the Tollan you mentioned might be more willing to help us than they apparently were you?' he suggested.

'Sure' O'Neill replied with a snort, 'I bet they'd give you guys Ion Cannon's' he said bitterly. That was a continuing sore-point with him.

'Ion Cannon?' Mollem repeated quizzically.

'Big Honking Space-Guns' O'Neill explained. 'Tollan weapon, blow a Goa'uld ship right outta the sky' he said. 'They don't have a proper military either but they can kick some serious ass when provoked' he added.

'We would very much like to include them in negotiations' Mollem stated. 'Along with establishing contact with the Asgard, Tok'ra and Nox' he requested. 'If you were to act as intermediaries on our behalf you would earn the gratitude of the Aschen Confederation' he said.

'How much gratitude are we talking about?' O'Neill asked with rising interest.

'I'm sure we could offer something as a gesture of good-will' Mollem replied. 'Have you cured cancer yet?' he asked.

Weir and O'Neill looked at each other before facing him again. 'Okay, you can consider us interested' O'Neill told him, Weir nodding her heartfelt agreement. 'But if we start going sterile just remember that we will nuke you back to the stone-age' he added seriously.

Mollem decided O'Neill was being serious and correctly surmised that it was making that mistake which led to the Aschen sending a warning from the future about not provoking X-COM. It would not be a mistake they would repeat, far better to play a long game and ingratiate themselves with the other major civilisations of the galaxy until the Aschen Confederation was in a position to take over.

Say what you like about the Aschen, they were a great deal of help when the Ori started releasing their own genetically engineered bio-weapons starting with the "Prior Plague" into the Milky Way, the Ori being, to put it mildly, less than happy to discover that there was an advanced and independent human civilisation who were just as ruthless and competent at germ warfare as they were. To quote Major-General Jack O'Neill in 2005, when Earth put together the Grand Alliance to fight the invaders "The Aschen? They're bastards, but they're _our_ bastards."

**Desert (Wormhole X-Treme shooting location) – Earth – September 2001**

Tanner couldn't do much but just stare at the two Tau'ri as they continued to argue. Despite his men having firearms trained on them they were pointedly ignoring the implied threat and were continuing their impromptu heated conversation unabashed. Only the Jaffa seemed to be taking the situation seriously and was aiming a weapon of his own, aiming it Tanner himself as the leader. They were all some distance from the filming with the vans that had bought the equipment and everyone else seemed more interested in watching the show being filmed than they were in them.

'Lighten up Sergeant' O'Neill told Andianov. 'It's not like it's really us' he pointed out. 'The guy they've got playing Teal'c is supposed to be a freaking android' he told her, pointing across at the actor plastered in grey makeup. If nothing else the existence of the show was a terrific cover-story for the real SGC, and added much plausible deniability for any leaks.

Andianov narrowed her eyes. '_You_ are not the one who for some reason is portrayed as going into battle in ludicrously short shorts and a tight top' she complained, indicating the actress playing "Elena Yermalov" the "feisty and fast-on-the-trigger" fifth member of the team as she talked to the producer. 'I will be mocked relentlessly about this when the series is televised' Andianov told him. Both the SGC and X-COM personnel would never allow her to forget this embarrassment, she knew, it was bad enough that the drug addled brain of the extra-terrestrial Martin Lloyd had remembered enough of them to write this dire television show but it was clear in Andianov's mind that in his subconscious he had been harbouring lascivious thoughts about her, the shower scene in the script was particularly galling, especially as she had a much nicer backside than that actress.

'You should take a leaf out of my book' O'Neill told her. 'I'm taking this all in my stride.'

'_Your_ character "Colonel Danning" gets all the good lines, such as they are, shoots many aliens and gets all the girls' Andianov retorted. 'Of course you are not displeased' she continued, 'I am nothing but... what would you call it?' she said trying to think of the right phrase, 'eye candy' she declared irately crossing her arms in front of her borrowed USAF uniform, the two of them there supposedly as technical advisors to the show. Her accent explained to the curious as her being a naturalised citizen born in the Ukraine.

Tanner finally couldn't take it any more. 'Aren't you in the least bit annoyed that we're about to get away?' he asked.

O'Neill turned away from the Russian and towards Tanner 'Why the hell did you think that was going to happen?' he replied in mock confusion.

'Because any second now our ship is going to arrive and transport us off the planet' Tanner replied evenly. 'We can't stay here any longer, either you people or the NID will find us eventually.'

'You're going to get away on your ship?' O'Neill queried, turning back to Andianov with exaggerated surprise. 'They think they're going to get away on their ship' he told her, overacting nearly as much as the guy playing "Colonel Danning".

'What ship?' Andianov asked, playing along.

'They must have two' O'Neill remarked. 'It's the only explanation' he said. 'Damn we only knew about the one that probe took a picture of out near Mars or somewhere' he noted regretfully.

'What the hell are you talking about?' Tanner demanded to know.

'Your ship, the one you hid out past Mars, in the asteroid belt wasn't it?' O'Neill replied. 'We didn't know about the other one' he said, shaking his head sadly before smirking.

'We've only got one ship' Tanner replied, with increasing annoyance evident in his tone.

'Ooh, that's not good for you guys then' O'Neill told them. 'Seeing as how you've got about as much chance of getting away in that as I do getting a job in show business' he continued, 'I guess seeing as how the Goa'uld kicked your butts that your ship isn't really much use in a stand up fight with a Hat'ak right?' he asked.

Tanner blinked. 'A Goa'uld Hat'ak?' he said nervously.

'Well it was Goa'uld _built_ but it's more of a _Tau'ri_ Hat'ak these days right Teal'c?' he asked his companion.

'Indeed O'Neill, our seizure of the vessel makes it the property of this world as spoils of war' Teal'c agreed.

O'Neill pointed upwards. 'We had it positioned so that the Earth was between it and your ship on its way in, in case your ship might have spotted it and warned you about it somehow I mean' he explained, 'but it'll be right above us just about the time you try to get away and it'll shoot your ass right outta the sky if you try and make a run for it' he said confidently. 'Unless one of the Reapers gets to you first' he added, 'we'll have a squadron of those things over this desert any second and those fighter-jocks are always looking to be the first to knock down a new type of alien ship.'

'Reapers?' one of the other extra-terrestrial humans queried, looking up, there _were_ vapour trails way up there.

'Earth built fighters made from recovered alien technology' O'Neill explained, 'they're sweet too' he continued appreciatively, 'hey I think some of the tech might have even come from the escape pod you people came to Earth in originally' he noted. 'I think that's just a load of spare parts at Area 51 these days.'

'You want our ship' Tanner said coldly.

'Oh yeah' O'Neill confirmed, 'and we're going to get it' he added. 'The question that should really be concerning you right now is what are we going to do with _you_?' he told him.

'Planning to strap us to a nice dissection table somewhere?' Tanner asked, 'pump us full of truth drugs so we tell you all the secrets of our technology?' he suggested. 'Kill us or leave our memories like Marty afterwards?' he said with distaste.

'It would get my vote' Andianov spoke up, earning a disparaging look from O'Neill which caused her to roll her eyes and mutter in Russian about how the X-COM way was more efficient.

'But fortunately for you this isn't a democracy and I was thinking something less drastic' O'Neill noted. 'You guys were sent out looking for people to help you find the Goa'uld right?' he asked Tanner rhetorically. Martin had told them the full story the last time they met him the year before.

'This planet was a dead loss on that score' Tanner replied bitterly. They were even further behind the Goa'uld in weapons technology here than his people had been.

'And then instead of going home to fight you deserted when you realised Earth wasn't advanced enough to fight the Goa'uld' O'Neill continued. 'That didn't sit well with Martin' he added, at least the little guy had the guts to want to go home and fight after he got guility enough about it.

Tanner glared at O'Neill. 'If we didn't know for a fact it was suicide and wouldn't achieve a damn thing we _would_ have gone home to fight' he practically growled.

'Your world _was_ destroyed' O'Neill told him, it was hardly a great revelation by their reaction 'we went there and checked' he said. 'If you'd gone home to fight you'd be dead like all the rest of your people' he told them all, looking each of them in the eye in turn, all but Tanner unable to meet his gaze. 'Me, now _I'd_ have probably gone home and gone down fighting but it's too late for you guys to get your honour back _that_ way' he said, 'but I know you're soldiers and I do know a way for you to at least live with yourselves _and_ achieve something worthwhile' he said.

'Worthwhile?' Tanner responded, his voice cracking slightly as the guilt he felt every day reared up again. He would never be free of it, none of them would.

'You wouldn't be the first people who weren't born on this world who joined us' O'Neill declared. 'The Goa'uld slaughtered your people because they wouldn't kneel and become their slaves' he said. 'You _must_ feel something about that?' he asked rhetorically. 'If it was me I'd be proud of my race and want to make sure I lived up to them' he said. 'You came here for allies, well you found them' he said indicating himself, Andianov and Teal'c, 'you guys have as much reason as anyone else in the galaxy to hate the Goa'uld and if you don't want to hate yourselves forever you'll pay the bastards back.'

Tanner blinked. 'You want us to help you fight the Goa'uld?' he asked.

'I want you to help us _beat_ the Goa'uld' O'Neill corrected him. 'You've got a ship that you know a hell of a lot better than we do' he said. 'You can't use it to save your people any more, but with our help you can use it to get some payback for them' he said.

A commotion a few hundred yards away caught their attention. As the actors and crew of Wormhole X-Treme looked up in the sky in amazement what appeared to be a spaceship, or at least a very good special-effect, slowly moved into position hovering above them.

'So are you going to sign up or not?' O'Neill asked. 'This is a one-time offer' he told them.

As Martin Lloyd nearby told the cameraman to angle up and film the ship, Tanner looked away from it back to O'Neill. 'Do you expect us to trust you?' he asked.

'Tell you what' O'Neill replied. 'Transport aboard, head for space and when you're under the guns of the Hat'ak up there, _then_ make the choice about whether it's get back into the fight against the Goa'uld or get blown all to hell by the Tau'ri' he said.

In the circumstances Tanner and his men couldn't help but be swayed by the weight of the Colonels arguments and after teleporting aboard the ship along with O'Neill, Teal'c and Andianov they were soon heading upwards to rendezvous with the Earth Hat'ak Ship _Enterprise_. They took a great deal more convincing that was the ships real name though, not even Martin would have come up with something that goofy for the god-awful Wormhole X-Treme.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – September 2001**

Cameron Mitchell on one of his infrequent visits to the SGC was enjoying himself immensely as he acted as narrator to the action being projected up onto the screen. It was a packed house in the dining hall, the only space large enough for everyone not on gate duty or offworld to fit into and he had their rapt attention. A number were munching popcorn they must have made in the microwave and wishing they could get a bucket sized cola like at the movie theatre too.

'Okay, now this is footage from a Reaper chasing a Sectoid Large Scout Ship over the North Atlantic' he said as the film played. 'I hope you're noting the smooth flying technique' he added.

'Yeah that bug knows his stuff but the guy in the F-302 is all over the place' barracked one of the audience.

Mitchell threw a baleful glare at the Skyranger pilot who had flown him up from Area 51 and who had decided to stay on to watch the show. 'I was being shot at with a plasma cannon' he pointed out to the grinning Major John Sheppard.

'Excuses, excuses' Sheppard feigned to mumble, just loud enough that at least half the hall could hear clearly.

'So why aren't you shooting back?' someone asked. In the earlier footage of human Firestorms and Reapers dogfighting with the aliens the firing had been considerably less one-sided, with much cheering as the film showed human Laser Cannon ripping up Sectoid machines which eventually either exploded from a hit to the power-plant or broke up into pieces that fell to Earth.

'Because I was there to observe not to engage' Mitchell answered, 'you're gonna love this' he promised as the film approached the best part.

After a few weeks during which it became evident that the F-302X, unlike the Firestorm, could catch any ship the Sectoids had the aliens had reverted back to using the slower vessels they had previously stopped deploying as well as their more capable craft. The cross-shaped "Large Scout" as X-COM had christened it was a slow-coach compared to the likes of the "Battleship" or "Abductor" but it was likely considerably more disposable and it seemed like Loki's Legions must have an unlimited supply of the things as no matter how many the human fighter-pilots knocked down there were always more arriving a day or so later. Flying without the Foo Fighter escort of the largest enemy ships it was generally left to the older Firestorms to intercept the small-fry, along with Deathgliders from the _Enterprise_ which now all re-equipped with X-COM Lasers instead of the inferior Staff-Cannon armament they were originally armed with.

'Okay we're currently five hundred kilometres south of Greenland doing about twenty-seven hundred knots or approximately Mach Four' Mitchell told the SGC and X-COM people. 'The bug pilot would probably be crapping his pants right now but they don't wear pants, or according to the dissection guys with the scalpels, have a proper digestive system' he continued with a grin. 'I'm faster, better armed and I've got a shield which he doesn't, so I guess the bug thinks his days are numbered... which they are but not for the reason he thinks' he said.

On screen the alien ship suddenly and inexplicably came to a dead stop then simply fell out of the sky like a stone.

'Okay, so what did you just do there?' Colonel O'Neill spoke up from the front row.

'Me?' Mitchell responded, 'nothing, I was only there to film' he said. 'We call this the Wile E. Coyote manoeuvre' he told them, 'because it looks a lot like the cartoon character did when he accidentally went off the cliff for the thousandth time' he said replaying the sequence in slow-motion, 'that brief pause in mid air before gravity takes hold' he continued, clearly trying to keep a straight face.

'So what happened Son?' General Hammond asked from the best seat in the house, Sharp was off-world again so he was definitely in charge.

Mitchell took deep breath 'We used the teleporter in the new ship we put in low orbit directly above to beam the poor son-of-a-bitches elerium engine right out of his ship when he was ten miles off the ground' he said then cracked up as the entire room erupted into howls of laughter merging into copious applause.

'The Wile. E Coyote manoeuvre' Hammond repeated, 'very funny' he told Mitchell.

'Thank you Sir' Mitchell replied with a grin. The Firestorm and Reaper pilots had also started referring to the opposition as "Marvin's" after the alien Looney Toons character "Marvin the Martian" who was always trying to destroy Earth.

'Comedy value aside, why not just teleport a bomb aboard?' O'Neill asked eventually over the dying laughter. 'Not that I'm not totally in with the humour you understand' he added. The mental image of the expression of abject horror of the faces of the Sectoid crew watching their ships source of power and locomotion vanish in front of their eyes was hilarious.

'Elerium is valuable stuff' Mitchell explained, 'we wanted to see if we could take out the ships but still save the engine and boy did it work' he told them. 'We're hoping to score a lot of free and easy fuel doing that' he continued.

'It's a shame the teleporter is short-ranged' Carter observed. 'Anything more than a couple of hundred miles and you run the risk of losing containment of the material you're transporting' she noted, inwardly grimacing at the idea of that happening to someone because it would be messy on re-integration to say the least. 'The rings the goa'uld use get around it by having a receiver and transmitter to improve signal clarity, that's why you can beam all the way from a planet to its moon' she said. 'I guess the Asgard get around it by just being tens of thousands of years more advanced, they worked out all the bugs.' she added.

'Have you tried using it on the Foo-Fighters?' Hammond asked. 'I know we've been trying to get one of those things intact.'

Mitchell shook his head. 'We tried but we think the same countermeasures that stops us getting a radar lock on them also stops the teleporter' he said.

'Loki would know how to jam teleporters, he knows we had help from the Asgard so maybe he thought we might get given their beaming technology and planned ahead for that?' Carter reasoned.

'Why not upgrade the larger ships too?' Daniel queried.

'Unlike the Foo-Fighters they land which means we might capture the technology and work out a counter-measure to the jamming' Carter replied. 'Loki knows how good we are at figuring out any technology we get our hands on now, he wouldn't want to risk it.'

'Yeah, we've shot down plenty of the fighters but the wreckage is usually made up of burned-up melted chunks you'd carry away in a small bucket' Mitchell agreed. 'Not much good for trying to back-engineer the things' he said regretfully. 'The R&D guys would love to get their hands on a whole one.'

'What we really need is a big net' Sheppard joked. 'You know, like catching butterflies' he said, miming the action.

'Or a tractor beam like on Star Trek' Teal'c added. 'I believe the Asgard may have such technology' he noted.

'They'd never let us have it' O'Neill told him. Damn Protected Planet's Treaty was more trouble than it was worth sometimes.

'No, but we can make our _own_ net' Carter responded, a smile slowly developing on her face. 'Trinium makes very good cable' she said.

'Oh I know that expression' O'Neill said suspiciously, 'mad scientist at work.'

'I can't see any Sectoid Pilot letting himself get caught in a net Major' Mitchell told her.

'If he's unconscious he won't have much say in the matter' Carter replied, 'General Hammond request permission to make a really big Zat gun I can strap to an F-302' she asked.

'Permission granted' Hammond replied, 'and if this works I want to see more film' he announced to a chorus of whoops.

Sheppard stood up and looked around the room. 'The net idea was mine, and you're all witnesses' he told them all. 'I'll have something for you to sign to that effect if there's any kind of reward, promotion or extra leave entailed' he announced.

'We'll put his name after yours in the paperwork' O'Neill whispered to Carter.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_The Aschen did have starships but the fact they didn't appear again says to me they likely had the same problem as the Tollan, ie. relatively slow FTL that took years of travel for a short trip (by galactic standards). Mollem was the Aschen diplomat in the Episode 2001 incidentally._ :-p

_Oh, and in case you're wondering why I'm keeping both the Tollan and now the Aschen around, in the long-term I want to beat the Ori without excessively resorting to help from Ascended Ancients and other Deus ex Machina's like they did in the show. Between them the Tollan and Aschen (and XSGCOM universe Tau'ri) have a whole lot of serious high-tech available and invading the Milky Way here is going to be a very different proposition than it was in SG-1. Getting beaten by an Ancient designed super-weapon is one thing but getting your arse handed to you by ordinary humans is humiliating._

_Martin's people were wiped out by the Goa'uld so it's reasonable to think that they weren't as advanced, at least in terms of weaponry. They did have hyperdrive and very nifty teleporters though. In SG-1 O'Neill let Tanner and his crew go because he didn't want them and their ship falling into the hands of the NID. Here they fall into the hands of X-COM which has jurisdiction because they're extra-terrestrials. They weren't in any position to get away, between the Hat'ak and the F-302X's Earth has a much better control of it's airspace (and orbit) than they did in SG-1 at this point._

_In X-COM: Interceptor you disabled alien fighters with a Tachyon Gun and could grab them with a Tractor Beam to haul them back to base for examination. Because the Sectoid Shields don't work in an atmosphere the big zat is probably a viable alternative... trawling a Foo-Fighter with a huge trinium-cable net is just a funny image (at least to me)! Thanks to reviewer draconis over on TtH for the Looney Toons theme inspiration, I'll be running with that for the Interceptor pilots._

_Reviews are always welcome, more reviews attacts more readers and like most fanfic writers I only write to be read._


	17. Chapter 17

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

******Skyranger Transport - Inbound to UFO Crash Site in Zaire – September 2001**

Sergeant Kevin Nash formerly of the Royal Marines Special Boat Squadron, and for the past two and a half years an X-COM Trooper, winked at the new recruit sat across from him in the Skyranger as they entered into their high-speed final approach run. 'Cheer up Jefferson' he said. 'It might never happen' he told him. Frankly it was practically a miracle it had never happened to Nash but they did say it was better to be lucky than good, and Nash was both.

'Yeah brighten up rookie' Mallozzi an American X-COM soldier agreed. 'You've got better than a fifty-fifty chance of surviving the next hour it's not like the old days.'

'True enough' Nash concurred, hefting his P3-A1 Heavy Plasma Rifle with integral zat. The weapon had replaced the L2-A2 Laser Rifle in UFO retrieval missions much to the joy of the troops being nearly twice as powerful per shot despite weighing no more. It had taken a while but they were really starting to get some nice kit now Nash decided, looking around the Skyranger. Two of the ten-man team carried the X-COM upgraded copy of the Sectoid Stun-Bomb launcher which could not only fire its original loads but could also launch high-explosives over a long distance when necessary, everyone else not only had a Heavy Plasma Rifle but was also carrying Goa'uld Shock-Grenades which were ideal for clearing out a room without damaging equipment or killing aliens who might yield important information when interrogated back at base.

'Alright you all know the drill' Captain Waring leading the Team announced. 'Except for Recruit Jefferson there we've all done this before and even he's done it plenty of times in training' he said.

'Getting shot at with an Intar's not like getting lit up by a Heavy Plasma mate' an X-COM soldier from the Australian SAS sagely told the newbie. Use of the Goa'uld training weapons had helped prepare replacements for their first taste of combat with the aliens but it was still not a patch on the real thing, it was hard to simulate the extremely unnerving experience of a green bolt of plasma that would go straight through an APC whizzing past your head at a good percentage of the speed of light.

'We want another leader and a navigator alive to help with the Hyperwave research' the Captain noted. 'Only use lethal force when absolutely necessary' he ordered.

'Better not be Muton's then' Nash muttered. The zat discharges had no effect on the armour that was bonded to their skin, they were resistant to the effect of the aliens own elerium stun bombs and the shock-grenades only tended to make them extremely pissed-off. 'Eitam would you stop playing with that bloody thing' he told the young woman sat next to him.

The Israeli on secondment from Sayeret Matkal slid the Goa'uld healing device off her hand and put in back in her pocket. 'I have to practice' she replied. 'Do you know how difficult it is to use one of those things if you've never had a Goa'uld Symbiote?' she asked. 'It took me six weeks after they injected me with naquadah to figure out how to turn it on' she told him.

'You could turn _me_ on with a look Nava' another soldier told her with a wink.

'What about a gesture?' she replied, giving him the finger.

'Thirty seconds' the pilot called back.

'On your toes X-COM' the Captain ordered, standing up with the others and getting ready to charge down the ramp after the Heavy Weapon's Platform as soon as they landed. The Tracked HWP at the back of the Skyranger always went out first, it was much better armoured than they were and more easily replaced if some alien sharpshooter was waiting to give them a warm reception.

The VSTOL Jet Transport was being buffeted around hard now and most of the troops were holding onto the straps provided and most had their jaws clenched tight so they wouldn't accidentally bite off their own tongues.

'Word of advice son' Nash told Jefferson. 'If you get killed and then see a bright light remember it might not be heaven, you could just be waking up in a sarcophagus so don't assume the figure in white standing over you is an angel until you're absolutely sure it's not someone in a labcoat checking your pupil dilation' he said.

'Has that happened to you?' Jefferson asked, 'being killed I mean?'

'No but the Captain there is on his third life' Nash replied. 'Last time he came back his first words were "Aw shit not again" right Sir?' he asked loudly.

'People who regret that they only have one life to give their country are quitters' Captain Waring replied with a grin, checking his P3-A1. He didn't even hold the record, there was a Sergeant in the Team flying out of the base in Japan who had been killed in action four times and was supposedly turning strange because of the nasty personality warping side-effects of repeated sarcophagus use. That is to say he was turning "strange" by X-COM standards, others might call it totally batshit insane. 'Time to save the world again boys and girls' Waring declared.

The ramp started to lower before they landed and the pilot must have taken the idea of flying nap-of-earth seriously because they seemed to be barely above the trees, or perhaps not at all because a sudden thump on the bottom of the Skyranger meant that they had just scraped the tree-tops. If you came in much higher or slower you ran a good chance of being shot down by Plasma Fire so both the pilots and the passengers much preferred a risky hair-raising ride to a suicidal stately approach.

They just got a glimpse of the crashed UFO before they set down, it was a nice big grey battleship which had been perforated by multiple laser hits from a squadron of F-302's. Normally they nuked them, or in a recent changed of tactics beamed the power-plants out one by one until it ditched in the ocean but the people in charge wanted their prisoners and were willing to risk grunt lives to get them. The troopers understood, they weren't going to win the war in the field with rifles, the war needed to be won in the laboratory with test-tubes and computers and it was their job to retrieve whatever the geeks needed to accomplish that.

The HWP was rolling as soon as they hit the ground and came under fire immediately, the compact automated tank returning fire with its rotary-staff weapon, spitting out a storm of plasma bolts to cover the humans behind it as they went into battle.

Captain Waring never got a chance to make life number four, a Sectoid blew his head off with a Heavy Plasma blast five minutes into the mission and even the sarcophagus couldn't bring you back from something like that. Jefferson the newbie took a glancing hit which almost took his right leg off but a combination of the medkit stopping the bleeding and Eitam repairing much of the damage with the Healing Device on the way home meant he was almost fully mobile even before they returned to base.

Dozens of alien kills and years of training and experience under his belt, supplemented by plenty of performance enhancing drugs flowing through his veins, saw Sergeant Kevin Nash successfully fight his way inside and up through all three decks of the alien ship, he and his troops zatting, shock-grenading and stun-bombing everything in their path. They lost two more soldiers achieving their objective, one of who was able to be bought back later, but they got the alien officers they were after, not only a Leader and a Navigator but an Engineer too.

X-COM traded the lives of its soldiers for information every day, but with every new piece of information obtained they increased the payment of blood the enemy had to make to come to Earth. The best and brightest of the human race, soldiers, scientists and engineers, were going to bleed the grey aliens white until they kept coming, and _then_ the Tau'ri were going to come after them, and they wouldn't be in a mood to forgive and forget.

Loki did later wonder regretfully if it might not have been a better idea to attack Goa'uld controlled worlds looking for genetic material after all. Who would have ever imagined that the evolved primates that the Ancients had dabbled with as a hobby would hold such a grudge, learn so fast and prove to be such a monumental pain in the ass?

To be fair to him however the Ascended Ancients observing events in the mortal plane with interest were pretty surprised at their success too, their _very_ long-term plan to stick it to the Ori and get some revenge on the Wraith was running way ahead of schedule.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – October 2001**

Russell Sharp entered the briefing room, and finding Weir the only one present so far pointed an accusing finger at her. 'I know you had something to do with this' he stated with enough menace to make her want to shrink back into her chair though she fought the impulse. Even before she found out about the mind altering chemicals she wasn't all that certain he wasn't going to go on a random killing spree one day, the majority of the time he did come across as reasonably balanced but the moments he didn't were all too frequent for Weir's liking.

'I merely reported my concerns about the way the SGC was being run' Weir replied as Sharp dropped into a seat across the table from her. 'That I found such a receptive audience in some quarters merely speaks for the validity of my arguments' she told him.

Sharp leaned forward. 'Senator Kinsey was a thorn in the side of the SGC long before I ever showed up' he said. 'Ask Hammond, or O'Neill if you want to hear the unedited version of Kinsey's shortcomings as a human being' he advised. 'He's been trying to control Stargate Command for his own ends for years and now you've helped him gain some actual authority over the running of this place' he told her.

'Only in as much as he is the United State's representative of the new International Oversight Committee' Weir replied. 'X-COM technically operated under civilian authority and had an Advisory Board before' she noted, 'it's not that big a step.'

'As long as we killed enough Aliens, retrieved enough technology and didn't go bankrupt the civilians the UN foisted on us never interfered' Sharp replied. 'The Security Council voted a resolution telling us to defeat the threat by "all necessary means" and asked very few questions which is exactly how we like it' he said. 'Based on what I've heard so far the new IOC is going to be a pain in the ass, and I'm not going to kiss someone else's when I should be kicking a Goa'ulds' he declared.

Weir rolled her eyes, the man talked like some character from an action movie. 'Commander, elements in the governments of several UN Security Council members are quite understandably concerned about the dire consequences that could result from the SGC making a poorly considered judgement call' she said. 'The influence of the military in this program is excessive and your accountability far too limited' she continued, 'I thought that from the moment I learned about both the SGC and X-COM and I've yet to learn anything that has swayed my opinion on the matter.'

'Haven't you been paying attention?' Sharp retorted, 'we're under attack' he said, 'evil and immoral assholes from outer space want to enslave or experiment on us' he pointed out. 'We're fighting for the survival of the human race and you think that's a good time to let politicians and bureaucrats get involved?' he asked incredulously.

'Commander who are you to make the call as to what the best course of action is?' Weir asked. 'What are your qualifications?'

'My _qualifications_ are the number of hostile aliens killed on my watch, the number of UFO's bought down as scrap metal and the number of factories and mines we've blown all to hell' Sharp replied.

'And how many current or potential offworld allies have you alienated?' Weir asked, 'no pun intended' she added, realising her unfortunate choice of words.

Sharp frowned. 'Relations with the Tollan and Tok'ra are better than ever as regards tech-transfer' he responded defensively.

'Largely _despite_ you Commander' Weir told him. 'The only way I could persuade the Nox to attend the conference with the Aschen was to promise you wouldn't be within a hundred light-years.'

'Playing nice with the Planet of the Hippies is not my idea of a strategic aim of prime importance' Sharp declared.

'They know how to make stargates and they have a flying city' Weir reminded him. 'Along with the Asgard they're considered one of the Four Great Races, we would have to be insane not to keep in touch and try to maintain friendly a relationship' she said.

'Wear something tie-dye and don't comb or wash your hair and they'll love you' Sharp advised. 'Tell them we're willing to swap a busted up 1960's Volkswagen Campervan for the anti-gravity stuff and they'll jump at the deal.'

Elizabeth Weir sighed as she attempted to decide if she disliked the petulant child part of his personality more than the sociopathic streak. 'The IOC is here to stay, get used to it' she told him with finality.

'And I'll bet you'll be their bright-eyed and busy tailed little helper' Sharp observed scornfully.

Weir was patient, thoughtful and diplomatic by inclination as well as career but sometimes you had to bite back. 'You're even less amiable than usual' she told him. 'What's the matter? Haven't got to kill anybody today?' she asked sardonically.

Sharp looked her in the eye. 'It's still early' he replied coldly just as General Hammond entered. 'Hey George, what do you think of the new IOC with Kinsey on it?' he asked.

'My thoughts are unrepeatable in mixed company' Hammond replied, taking his own seat. 'I'll do your paperwork for a week if you tell Colonel O'Neill instead of me' he offered.

'No deal' Sharp replied, 'it took me over a year to get him to the stage where he doesn't resent me being here... quite as much' he said. 'You can afford to lose more O'Neill goodwill than me.'

A near thunderous "Oh for crying out loud" in the corridor outside indicated that the Colonel had just run into a likely gloating Kinsey thereby saving them both from the job. O'Neill strode in with an appalled look on his face and a smug Senator following on behind. 'This is someone's idea of a joke right?' he asked. 'Tell me this is a joke and that's really someone in a Kinsey mask' he pleaded.

'I'm afraid not Colonel' Hammond replied.

'Blame her' Sharp told him, indicating Weir who was quite surprised at the reactions of O'Neill and Hammond in particular, the Airforce General having always struck her as being a man of considered, reasoned opinions.

'_Credit_ Ms Weir for acting as she saw fit in the best interests of the country' Kinsey responded. 'The other members of the International Oversight Committee are still on the fifty-cent tour of the facility' he continued, 'I've seen it all before' he said sitting down next to her. 'You are Commander Sharp no doubt' he said. 'I don't think we've been formally introduced' he noted.

'Senator Robert Kinsey, Commander Russell Sharp of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit' Hammond introduced them properly.

'You're Canadian I believe' Kinsey asked leadingly.

'It was the snow chains and the maple-leaf bumper-sticker on my car outside that gave it away again right?' Sharp replied wryly.

Kinsey ignored the mans attempted wit. 'I must say that I and many others in Washington have held reservations for some time about having this project under foreign control' he said.

'Foreign?' Sharp queried, 'I'm here fighting for Earth, which is where I thought I was' he said evenly. 'X-COM operates under a mandate from the United Nations and as far as I'm aware the US hasn't left either the UN or the X-COM organisation yet' he said. 'I have heard through channels that certain people have been trying to play up the old anti-UN "national sovereignty" stuff but I was hoping that those in authority realised that either the nations of this planet hang together or we'll hang separately' he told Kinsey. 'You know there are a few people in X-COM who wonder if the anti UN stuff is actually part of some alien plot of divide and conquer' he added. 'Personally I don't hold to conspiracy theories but the Goa'uld and Sectoids do have brainwashing and mind-control so you never know' he added. 'Might be wise to keep the suspects under surveillance just in case' he opined.

O'Neill noted the expression on Kinsey's face and decided it was worth playing along even if only for the laughs. 'How would you determine who the suspected alien dupes were?' he asked Sharp, putting on his serious voice.

'Well we know the High Council of the Goa'uld System Lords wanted us to shut down the stargate program when the Asgard negotiated Earth being added to the Protected Planets Treaty so I guess anyone that wanted to do that too would be pretty high on the list' Sharp reasoned.

'Yeah that makes sense' O'Neill agreed. 'How would you make sure they weren't just a dumbass instead of a traitor though?' he asked, noting the rising expression on fury on Kinsey's face.

'Well if they were that determined to clear their name we could use a mind-probe on them' Sharp suggested. 'Of course we _might_ accidentally find out any secrets they might have and we'd have to promise not to tell anyone about them.'

'Hand on heart, Scout's Honour' O'Neill agreed nodding and performing the action. 'We could rig them up to a Zatarc detector instead, that tells you if they're lying' he reminded the Commander.

'Not as effective, they might not necessarily _know_ they're lying and what if you asked them other questions like were all the campaign contributions they received completely legal?' Sharp asked rhetorically. 'I mean if they were a politician say' he added. 'Where would we stand on asking the FBI to investigate?'

'Legally I'd say that would be a grey area' O'Neill said. 'Roswell grey' he joked.  
Kinsey's look of fury had shifted to one of increasing concern, if they decided to insist on screening for possible alien influence there was plenty of information in his head he really wouldn't want to become known, especially by the likes of Jack O'Neill.

'I guess thinking about it we'd better keep alert and vigilant for signs of pro-alien activity George' Sharp told Hammond. 'I mean the security of the entire world is at stake' he said. 'They do say if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear' he declared.

'Indeed they do' O'Neill concurred.

Later that day as they passed in the corridor Sharp observed quietly to Weir that amongst his other qualifications for the job was a very good grasp of strategy and tactics and that outmanoeuvring an opponent that was not only both overconfident and cocky, but also underestimated _you_, was easy. Weir made a mental note that being slightly unhinged by normal standards by no means meant being stupid and decided not to underestimate the gung-ho son-of-a-bitch herself either.

Meanwhile Kinsey decided that he needed to re-think his game-plan, he _had_ thought that he would be able to quickly establish overriding authority over the SGC via what the military drones would call a direct frontal assault through his position on the IOC, but now he realised he would have to resort to good old-fashioned political chicanery and seek to divide and conquer by helping to drive a wedge between the various factions within the program he had identified.

For his part O'Neill got to watch Kinsey squirm which took him to a happy place where usually only a new episode of the Simpson's took him. His opinion of the X-COM Commander also improved a few points because anyone that seemed to automatically realise that the Senator was a slimy, underhanded, self-serving weasel was at the very least a good judge of character.

Hammond just wondered how he'd managed to keep a straight face through the whole thing.

**Space Station – Hasara System – October 2001**

Lord Yu scowled at Baal when he finally arrived to take his seat. 'You are late' he growled, 'it shows disrespect for the other members of this Council' he said. 'Especially when the Council is a Council of War' he added.

'I prefer to think of it as making a memorable entrance' Baal replied looking around. Bastet, Kali and Amaterasu were sat together and all greeted him with a friendly nod of acknowledgement which he returned. With reasonably strong ties before the war they had been fighting Apophis as a united front, their combined forces making them the leaders of a formidable fighting force and their block vote on the Council making them a useful political as well as military ally. By throwing his own fleet into the conflict alongside theirs, rather than that of Lord Yu or another more powerful individual System Lord, Baal had sought to earn the favour of the reasonably strong sub-alliance they represented within the more fractious overall anti-Apophis coalition.  
'Perhaps Baal you might make amends for arriving late by providing us with the plans for these more advanced Hat'aks we have heard so much about' a female goa'uld with bright red hair suggested.

'I don't think so Morrigan' Baal replied with a smirk. 'I'm surprised to see you here' he continued, 'your forces have not exactly made themselves as well known in the fight against Apophis as my new ships' he observed.

'At least I threw myself into the fight long before you decided what side to join' Morrigan retorted. 'We were starting to wonder if your refusal to get involved was calculation or craven cowardice' she said. 'I thought the latter' she added with a sneer.

'You never were a good judge of character' Baal told her. 'What did you think Olokun?' he asked the System Lord sat beside her.

'I for one always knew that you were far more deceitful and cunning than you were spineless' Olokun replied, Camulus nodding his agreement with the assessment.

'I'll choose to take that as a complement' Baal told him. 'I must say I am surprised to see those two were invited' he said, indicating Cronus and Terok. 'According to my intelligence they can barely scrape up a thousand Jaffa and three spaceworthy ships between them' he declared, causing Cronus to leap from his chair only to meekly return when Yu indicated with a gesture he should. The once mighty army of Cronus, and Heru-ur's vast fleet that Terok had inherited following his masters death had been shattered by Apophis and in reality they were both merely vassals of Lord Yu these days.

'Your intelligence is false' Cronus blustered.

'My intelligence is probably the best and most comprehensive amongst all the Goa'uld' Baal replied, 'which brings me to the point at which I'd like to introduce my surprise guest' he said, waving a solitary figure into the room none recognised. 'This is Ren'al' he said, 'of the Tok'ra' he added.

Ren'al hadn't known whether to expect stunned silence or consternation and got the former as she looked around. In different circumstances she would have happily killed the entire lot of them with the symbiote poison she had helped develop. 'Greetings from the Tok'ra High Council' she said. 'We would like to negotiate a temporary truce between us until the threat Apophis represents is neutralised' she said.

'You bought a Tok'ra _here_?' Camulus exclaimed. 'Are you insane?' he asked incredulously.

'Far from it' Baal replied. 'The Tok'ra have as much to fear from a single all-powerful System Lord as we do' he noted. 'I have been in contact with them for some months, as indeed have you all without knowing it' he continued. 'They have been surreptitiously and anonymously feeding you information on the dispositions of the forces of Apophis for quite some time' he announced. 'We just felt the time was right to bring things out into the open' he said.

'I will tear this traitor apart with my bare hands' Olokun declared, standing up. 'Then I will deal with _you_' he hissed at Baal.

'Given that the Tau'ri supplied sidearm she is wearing could apparently put a hole through your torso larger than your fist I would suggest hearing her out before making any rash moves' Baal advised, the Tok'ra indicating the holstered plasma pistol hanging from her belt. 'At any other time I would enthusiastically kill her myself but these are not normal times' he pointed out. 'The Tok'ra have agents throughout the galaxy and know more about what is happening within the systems Apophis controls than anyone else, they will provide this for a fairly reasonable agreement that we merely stop trying to wipe them out for the time being.'

'Weapons are banned from the summit, all are scanned for energy weapons on arrival' Amaterasu stated. 'It must be a bluff' she said.

'The technology is of a type completely new to both of societies and would not be recognised by your sensors' Ren'al explained, it was an elerium powered device and as such would have triggered no alarms. She herself had been injected with a Tok'ra innovation, an isotope which prevented her being detected on Goa'uld sensors for up to six hours, if not for that Baal would have never managed to sneak her aboard. 'Any System Lord that cooperates will also be offered immunity from Tok'ra attack while the truce holds' she told them. 'When Apophis is defeated the usual state of affairs will resume and I'm sure I look forward as much to trying to exterminate the goa'uld collectively once again as you all do my people.'

'How can we trust these traitors?' Morrigan snarled.

'The same way that we currently trust each other' Baal replied. 'We're all intelligent enough to realise that Apophis represents a far greater threat to all of us than we do to each other' he said. 'Enlightened self-interest is a powerful bond that supersedes personal animosity.'

'We Tok'ra despise you as you do us but we could never hope to defeat a single all-powerful System Lord' Ren'al told them honestly. 'You will all revert to form in time, we know this coalition of yours is an ephemeral thing that will vanish the instant you start to fear each other more than you collectively fear Apophis' she said, 'until then helping you butcher and keep each other in check more effectively is simply a sensible response to the current political situation.'

Baal grinned. 'It's hard not to like them at a certain level of grudging respect isn't it' he said to the other System Lords. 'If they weren't treacherous disgraces to their race they would make worthy adversaries' he opined. 'I've already got one of them helping to run my war effort' he said, 'in some ways its refreshing to have an underling that honestly wants me dead on principle rather than seeks to usurp my realm' he joked.

'I'll let her know you feel that way' Ren'al told him sardonically.

'Her presence sickens me' Kali commented, looking at the Tok'ra in disgust.

'I'm surprised you have such a weak stomach after seeing that outfit in the mirror each morning' Ren'al retorted. 'You should look to Bastet' she continued, 'at least _she_ could pass muster and earn a more honest living as a painted harlot.'

Baal couldn't help but laugh at the expression on both of the faces of the maligned System Lords, they clearly weren't used to be spoken to in such a manner. It was also evident that Ren'al had been taking female human hosts for quite some time, she had the vicious turn of phrase to prove it. 'Perhaps we should discuss this further after lunch?' he suggested.

'I'll pass' Ren'al replied. Baal had informed her they were going to ritually consume goa'uld symbiotes and that was a bit too close to cannibalism for her liking.

Ren'al had to admit it was all quite the masterstroke by Baal, after bringing a Tok'ra guest offering truce to the summit his announcement that Anubis had returned and wished to resume his seat on the Council as a recognised System Lord sounded almost reasonable by comparison. With the deal sweetened by the offering of a smattering of the ancient technology Anubis could offer to aid their war against Apophis the vote was near unanimous with only Lord Yu voting against the proposal.

The Tok'ra decided to keep a very close eye on Baal, he was too clever by half and was increasingly exhibited dangerously un-goa'uld-like traits like favouring reasoned argument over bluster and seeing the big picture instead of having a myopic focus on his immediate goals. One of the greatest advantages the Tok'ra had always had over their ideologically opposed brethren was that the latter didn't act collectively or plan long-term. Baal seemed to be at odds with this goa'uld stereotype and it was a cause for worry, though naturally eclipsed by the real and present threat of Apophis and the upcoming likely threat posed by Anubis who seemed already to be dangerously technologically advanced over the rest.

Selmak and host Jacob Carter were dispatched to the Tau'ri to notify them of the developments. O'Neill complained that it was the usual Tok'ra "go it alone and keep us in the dark crap" and said they were nuts to trust the Goa'uld even if it was in the System Lords best interests to keep their end of the deal. Selmak and Jacob couldn't help but agree but it had been a decision taken by the collective Tok'ra Leadership and they were bound by it.

On the plus side the Tollan had offered to provide the Tok'ra with a brand-new stargate which they would transport to a new planet outside the original network constructed by the ancients. The Tollan had begun building their first ships utilising the faster Goa'uld hyperdrives the Tau'ri had given them and were in a better position to do the Tok'ra such a favour. A secure base which wasn't on anyone's list of gate addresses would be a handy hiding place if the Tok'ra ever needed one and the way the galaxy was going they might need one pretty soon.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The Tok'ra supplied Healing Devices and even a single sarcophagus would make quite a difference to the troops fighting the Sectoids, the former was difficult to use which is why I only have it being bought into use many months after they got them. Canonically just having naquadah in your blood to power it didn't mean you could easily use it (as Carter found), X-COM combat medics might be willing to have yet another substance injected into them but they also need a lot of practice before they can employ the technology...they also set off metal detectors at airports_ :-p

_The last section is a rather AU version of episode 5:15 __Summit__. __Ren'al__ was the Tok'ra that came up with the symbiote poison that Daniel was going to use to wipe out the System Lords in that episode so she seemed a good choice to be the one to visit them with less homicidal intent here. The Tok'ra isotope that prevented you being detected on Goa'uld scanners was seen in episode 7:01 __Fallen__._

_Reviews are always welcome._


	18. Chapter 18

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Area 51 – Earth – October 2001**

Jack O'Neill had mixed feelings about these occasional trips down to Area 51 to see what the R&D people had come up with recently. Some parts were pretty cool, such as the demonstration of the new Plasma Cannon, or as one of the more enthusiastic scientists had referred to it, the "relativistic beam of superheated kinetic death", but the pure science and biology stuff tended to be either dull or gross.

'I've seen the inside of an alien before' O'Neill pointed out as Carter almost forcibly dragged him into the next laboratory where supposedly there were several dissected species on display, some being cut up specially for the guests. Why couldn't he be off training the Free Jaffa in Tau'ri small-unit tactics with Teal'c or Andianov instead, he thought with a groan. Still it could have been worse he could have been digging up pieces of clay pot with Daniel, why he took such an immediately negative attitude towards O'Neill's perfectly sensible suggestion that using C4 to dig with would save time was a mystery.

Later on Carter was going to get to talk a load of geeks through her own fighter-sized zat gun project which was well underway. O'Neill had already arranged to be elsewhere for that, supposedly at another lecture on the new helmet for the F-302X that added the eye-piece Head-Up-Display from a Tel'tak, but in reality he was going to be propping up the base bar with a Navy Pilot who owed him a beer.

'This is fascinating stuff Sir' Carter enthused, as the Colonel daydreamed of cold frosty glasses of what Benjamin Franklin said was the proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. 'The cybernetic implants in the Muton especially' she continued, 'it's amazing how Loki managed to graft them so seamlessly into the organic features' she said as they found themselves amongst a small group stood around the corpse of a dead alien which was in the final stages of being cut up by a female scientist in a labcoat, blue latex gloves and a surgical facemask.

'And now you see how the already enlarged heart and lungs are supported by highly efficient mechanical pumps for liquids and fluids' she said, using her scalpel to point. 'This along with the other genetic tampering and surgical modifications gives the Muton its enhanced physical strength and stamina' she noted, putting down the scalpel and taking a step back. 'If you have any further questions please address them to Doctor Richmond there' she told the mixed military and civilian audience who gave her a polite round of applause for the presentation.

'Damn we're too late' Carter moaned. 'I wanted to see the whole thing' she said.

'It's a tragedy' O'Neill replied sardonically. 'Though on the bright side after seeing thirty seconds worth I'm not feeling so hungry' he told her as everyone started to move along to the next table where another scientist was preparing to use a hammer and chisel to crack open the exoskeleton of a Chryssalid.

'If you would like a quick reprise Major Carter I'm sure I can manage it' the scientist who had been dissecting the Muton offered.

Carter looked at her. 'I'm sorry do we know each other?' she asked.

'All too well unfortunately' the woman replied pulling off the mask.

'Arrgh!' O'Neill exclaimed, reaching for a pistol her wasn't wearing. 'What the hell are you doing here and not in a cell?' he asked, looking around and noting that there were several armed guards in the room already keeping an eye on her.

'Nirrti?' Carter queried nervously, not immediately willing to believe the evidence of her own eyes.

'In return for my ongoing cooperation they have permitted me the luxury of seeing more of your world' the Goa'uld explained, 'although one Laboratory is much like another I did at least enjoy the view on the flight here' she told them. 'Being underground is oppressive after a while' she said.

'Okay let's take a step back' O'Neill said, 'shouldn't you be rotting in a cell?' he asked angrily.

'I was' Nirrti replied, 'then they came to me with questions regarding my work on creating a Hok'taur which I answered, chiefly because they threatened to starve me if I didn't' she said. 'Then later they asked me to look at the DNA analyses of Loki's human-hybrid psionic creations to see if there were parallels with my own research' she continued, 'finally after I told them I could be of more help if I was allowed to see the subjects first-hand they let me examine the subjects personally' she told them. 'Needless to say they were more than impressed by my superior ability to fathom Loki's genetic handiwork.'

'So they gave you a fucking _job_?' O'Neill exclaimed in horrified amazement.

'The situation is far closer to being in a state of slavery' Nirrti replied bitterly. 'I'm sure you approve of _that_ irony at least' she said. 'After I am finished here today I will be transported back to the X-COM facility and returned to my cramped cell until my services are once again required' she told him. 'It had better not be too late, there is a show I wished to watch tonight and they will not provide a TiVo' she complained.

O'Neill's jaw dropped. 'You've got a freaking _television_ in your cell?' he asked incredulously.

'Another pitiful reward for my cooperation' Nirrti replied. 'At first I thought the device was meant as a punishment but then I realised I could change channels and it didn't only have to show televangelism 24/7' she admitted. 'You're culture is very strange but your multitude of television stations can usually be relied upon to have something worth seeing' she said.

'Multitude?' O'Neill repeated. 'You've got goddamn _cable_ haven't you?' he asked, an expression of incredulity mixed with rage on his face.

'Yes, but X-COM is too cheap to throw in HBO' Nirrti replied.

'I'm going to see someone about this' Carter announced. 'It's like Operation Paperclip' she said, '_worse_, it's like the break they gave to the men in Unit 731' she corrected herself.

'Unit 731?' O'Neill queried. He knew about Operation Paperclip, the German Scientists and Engineers like Von Braun who were bought to America after the war.

'Japanese WMD research in World War Two' Carter told him. 'They carried out medical experiments on human subjects, including vivisection, and they used biological warfare against Chinese Civilians, killed tens maybe hundreds of thousands with Bubonic Plague and other diseases' she continued. 'The kicker is they were given immunity from war crimes prosecution in return for handing over their research to the United States' she said. 'The information was considered potentially too valuable' she explained.

O'Neill blinked, that story was new to him. 'And what this mass-murdering bitch knows is too valuable to us now' he reasoned with clear distaste at the putting of expediency before principle.

'I am too useful to your planets ongoing scientific research for any complaint you make to be taken seriously' Nirrti opined. 'As well as my knowledge of the biological sciences I am also aiding in a project designed to replicate my personal cloaking unit with the technology available here on this world' she continued. 'Perhaps you will both be happy to hear that I have several tracking devices plus an explosive device imbedded in my body to deter escape' she added.

'No, _I'd_ be happy to hear that they fed you stale bread and brackish water in a pitch-black cell and that when they did want information, and you wouldn't cough it up, they beat it out of you' O'Neill replied.

'It was tried, I believe the phrase used was that they discovered the carrot worked better than the stick' Nirrti told him. 'I do suspect that as soon as I am no longer any use I will be disposed of' she said. 'I find that extremely motivating to make myself indispensable.'

'They should just cut you open and take out the snake right now' O'Neill declared.

'I have been within this host too long, ask the Tok'ra' Nirrti replied. 'She would be incurably insane by now thanks to what she has seen me use her to do, plus the effects of repeated sarcophagus use over centuries would have damaged her weak human mind' she said. 'Removing me would in fact be a cruelty to the human form I wear' she pointed out.

'Euthanasia for both of you works for me' O'Neill growled. 'Justice and mercy in one neat little nine-millimetre package' he said, miming to point a pistol at her head.

Nirrti began removing her surgical gloves, they were bloodstained from the Muton which was oddly appropriate. 'My help will save many of your kind from death at the hands of your Goa'uld and Sectoid enemies' she said. 'Killing me would likely make you feel better but it would mean that you were responsible for the deaths I would have prevented' she noted.

'She's got a point Sir' Carter reluctantly agreed, before delivering a sudden and a very neat punch to Nirrti's nose that broke it all over her face. 'Of course there are alternative ways to feel better' Carter noted with satisfaction as the Goa'uld clutched her broken nose that was already dripping blood down her white lab-coat.

'Good thinking Major' O'Neill told her. 'Way to improvise' he said appreciatively.

'I get these flashes of brilliance sometimes Sir' Carter replied, checking her knuckles.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – November - 2001**

'Six months' Sharp growled, throwing the file he had been leafing through onto his desk, 'all I ask for is six fucking months without Loki pulling something new out of his ass' he said. 'Is that too much to ask' he said looking up towards the ceiling of his office, General Hammond, sat across from him next to Colonel O'Neill, guessing he was looking for divine intervention rather than pleading with the NORAD personnel upstairs.

'How many did you lose?' O'Neill asked.

'One team in its entirety, and two more with losses pushing seventy-five percent' Sharp replied. 'Shit we haven't gotten beaten up on like that since before we developed the Laser Rifle and Personal Armour' he declared. 'Even the Muton's weren't this bad when they turned up' he noted. 'The only reason we didn't lose even more is that we had a couple of people with high PSI strength who had the common-sense to zat anyone that didn't' he said.

'They're _all_ telepaths?' General Hammond asked.

'Every single damn one, and even the low-ranking ones are as strong at it as the Sectoid Leaders' Commander Sharp told him. 'Our people went into their missions like normal and started receiving multiple continuous Psionic assaults' he continued, 'most that were too strong to be mind controlled were hit by those panic attacks we've seen Bug Officers use instead, only much more effectively' he said.

'Yeah felt that one myself' O'Neill remarked, recalling the Psionic Attack he had experienced during the fight to defend the X-COM base in Poland. 'It's just like a feeling of... intense dread really' he told General Hammond.

'You score out in the nineties on Psionic Strength Colonel' Sharp told him, 'most people would have dropped their weapon and gone to hide in a corner, or started shooting everything that moved regardless of what side it was on' he said.

'And you're calling them...' Hammond asked.

'Ethereals' Sharp answered, taking a picture from the file and showing it to them. 'They're showing up in larger and larger numbers every day' he told them.

O'Neill looked at the photograph of the most intact Ethereal corpse the X-COM UFO Retrieval Teams had dispatched so far. 'Sucker looks like he needs a good meal' he opined.

'We think Loki genetically engineered for brains and psionic abilities over physical strength' Sharp told him, tapping the image. 'They're taller than we are but so skinny and lacking in muscle mass they're even weaker than a sectoid' he said. 'The head and the brain inside is disproportionately large, these guys are likely a lot smarter than we are too' he noted.

'Kinda almost like a tall Asgard' O'Neill suggested.

'You are closer to the truth than you realise O'Neill' a disembodied voice responded.

'Thor buddy is that you?' O'Neill asked, looking around.

'Yes O'Neill' the voice replied, 'I will shortly be arriving in orbit around your planet' it said. 'I have already notified your captured Hat'ak and the other ship so they do not open fire on me' not that they would achieve much by doing so' he added. 'I thought it wise to announce my presence before teleporting in so as to not cause Commander Sharp to reflexively draw his weapon and try to shoot me again.'

'Nearly gave me a goddamn heart attack last time' Sharp muttered.

Two small grey figures appeared in the room with the customary flash of light of an Asgard Transporter Beam. 'Greetings humans' one said, in an unfamiliar voice.

'Hey you bought a guest' O'Neill said to the other one. 'Is this Mrs Thor?' he asked. Strangely the other Asgard _did_ sound somewhat feminine.

'The Asgard are asexual as you know' Thor replied. 'This is Heimdall, one of our most revered and well-respected scientists' he introduced his companion.

'So _not_ a chick?' O'Neill asked.

'No' Heimdall verified. 'At least not as you would understand it' the Asgard continued, 'originally our species was more like yours with differentiated sexes and some elements of that have continued in certain clone lines including mine.'

'So... chick-like?' O'Neill queried. 'Look I just want to know whether it's he or she when talking about you' he said.

Heimdall turned to Thor. 'Yes he is much as you said he was' the Asgard said.

'You get used to it' Thor replied resignedly. 'In our own language we do not use masculine or feminine descriptors O'Neill' he told the Colonel, 'we would say the equivalent of "it".'

'Now to me that sounds rude' O'Neill responded. 'I've always thought of you as a guy. So I say "he" when I talk about you.'

'Gah!' Sharp exclaimed. 'For the love of God just let them tell us why they're here' he pleaded to O'Neill.

'Okay' O'Neill agreed, 'you're a "she" from now on' he told Heimdall quietly.

Thor turned to Sharp. 'We have been monitoring your war with Loki's creations' he said. 'We are particularly intrigued by the race you are calling Ethereals and feel an exchange of information is in both our interests' he said.  
'Monitoring how?' General Hammond asked.

'We have undetectable observation satellites in high orbit that routinely download from your databases and also monitor for the use of advanced Asgard technology in case Loki decides to employ transporter beams or our more advanced shields' Thor explained.

'You're spying on us' Sharp responded irately.

'We are merely hoping that Loki will make a mistake so we can track him down and bring him to justice' Thor replied. 'We cannot leave a ship here full time because of the ongoing war with the Replicators but we do feel obligated to watch out for your planet because Loki is regretfully one of us' he said.

'And these Ethereals are somehow a mistake?' O'Neill asked.

'No they are in fact indicative of Loki being far more successful than we might have considered possible' Heimdall replied. 'For all the moral repugnance they provoke his unethical experiments do seem to get results faster than would be achieved normally' the scientist admitted.

Thor nodded. 'The Asgard recently located a derelict vessel which our own race dispatched from our own Home Galaxy of Ida towards this one many thousands of years ago' he said. 'When the craft was launched our hyperdrives were such that such a journey would take many years so the crew were cryogenically frozen for the trip' he told them.

'The ship was considered lost after its navigation system failed and it was only quite recently recovered' Heimdall interjected. 'Its crew predated our large scale genetic manipulation of our race, one of whom was still intact after thirty-thousand years.'

'You guys have had hyperdrive for thirty thousand years?' Sharp responded in surprise.

'You are impressed we were so far advanced while you still lived in caves?' Thor supposed.

'No I'm thinking that if _we'd_ been an industrialised interstellar civilisation for a _tenth_ of that time we'd be way ahead of where you are now' Sharp told him seriously.

Heimdall said something to Thor in their own language. 'Yes they are arrogant' Thor agreed in English, 'but recall that _we_ have always said much the same thing about the Ancients' he noted, those people had been around for millions of years before the Asgard emerged and frankly didn't have a fraction as much to show for it as they really should have. At the very least the universe should have been teeming with what the humans called Dyson Spheres by now, but the Ancients were the poster-children for a society in extreme technological stasis. The Asgard had idly wondered on occasion if the humans the Ancients created in their own image on this world were prone to such frenetic advancement as they had exhibited lately because their predecessors realised their own weakness in this area and "fixed" it in the genetic code of their experiment.

'Still don't exactly know why you're visiting' O'Neill told the Asgard, 'not that you guys and gals aren't always welcome to drop in' he added.

'Perhaps this hologram of what the early Asgard looked like will explain' Heimdall replied, a life-sized representation appearing in front of the door.

Commander Sharp looked from the hologram to the picture on his desk and back again. 'Okay I think we're getting the message now' he said.

'You guys used to be a lot taller' O'Neill observed. 'You didn't used to be telepathic too did you?' he asked.

'No' Thor replied, 'although Loki does seem to have created the beings you called Ethereals from early Asgard genetic material the psionic genes are still likely based upon his research into your species' he said. 'It is however his success in recreating the physical form of our ancestors that interests us' he continued. 'Heimdall has been attempting similar research to find a cure for our races creeping genetic degeneration.'

'But with apparently far less success' Heimdall admitted. 'I am of course considerably more restricted in my research methods' the Asgard noted.

'That having a conscience and not experimenting on live humans thing holding you up?' O'Neill asked rhetorically.

'A neat summation' Heimdall agreed.

General Hammond stood up. 'Presumably you're here to request any research we've made into the Ethereals?' he asked. 'And for genetic samples' he added.

'Yes' Thor replied.

'What do we get out of it?' Sharp asked. 'And I mean as in concrete benefits not the ongoing goodwill of your race.'

'Maintaining the goodwill of the Asgard _is_ a concrete benefit' Hammond told the Commander.

'I'd prefer something more tangible' Sharp stated flatly.

'Under the terms of the...' Thor began.

'Protected Planets Treaty blah, blah blah' Sharp interrupted. 'Okay how about this' he said. 'We get Heimdall here' he said.

'What?' Thor replied in surprise.

'Heimdall gets to continue her research' he said, 'but right here on Earth at one of our installations' he said. 'You can bring any equipment you want, and we promise not to steal it, but the work is done _here_' he said.

'Why?' Heimdall asked.

'Because if you're here the rest of your people might take more notice the next time someone decides to attack us' Sharp replied.

'You wish Heimdall to be a hostage?' Thor queried guardedly.

'More of a combination guest and guarantee' Sharp responded, 'we'll also pool our research into Loki's little science projects which will help both of us' he pointed out, then crossed his arms. 'The way I figure it, having the possible future survival of the Asgard race dependent on work being done here on Earth might concentrate your minds a bit if the Goa'uld ever decide to say screw the treaty and come calling' he said.

'We would _always_ do our best to defend a planet accorded our protection under the treaty' Thor told him.

'Then Heimdall is perfectly safe here from Goa'uld attack' Sharp replied. 'You can attribute it to my paranoia if you like but I'd feel happier having her here' he said. 'Hey where else is she going to get a steady stream of Loki's DNA experiments to work on anyway?' he asked.

'He makes a good point there Supreme Commander' Hemidall told Thor. 'I also note you are referring to me as being of the female gender' Heimdall continued to Sharp.

'The Colonel's right, you _do_ sound more like a girl and the voice is the only way we can tell you apart' Sharp replied honestly.

Heimdall seemed to be contemplating the situation. 'Loki's development of psionics as an off-shoot of a likely research into the further evolution of sapient life and ascension would also be worth study' she said, 'and the humans here have made some strides in that direction of late.'

'Yes their files did indicate they are on the verge of a breakthrough with Psionic Amplification' Thor agreed. 'You would like to stay here and investigate further?' he queried.

'The subject does hold some fascination for me' Heimdall confirmed. 'I am willing to stay here for the time being.'

'This would of course require approval by the Asgard High Council' Thor told the humans.

'Yeah I'll probably have to run it past the damn International Oversight Committee too' Sharp complained. 'I bet our pen-pushing bureaucrats are worse than yours' he wagered.

'I would be very surprised if they were' Thor replied evenly. The previous week he had to appear before them to justify increased expenditure of resources on defence due to an increase in the construction of the O'Neill Class Battlecruisers. At one point he had been sorely tempted to adopt the mannerisms and language of the vessels namesake and yell at the rest of the Council that didn't they realise there was a fucking war on?

'It should not be difficult to quickly relocate my laboratory from Adara to here' Heimdall told Thor.

In later years Heimdall would usually answer other Asgard when the topic came up that living on Earth for a while wasn't as bad as they might have thought, and that being an _actual_ "Roswell Grey" at Area 51 was mildly entertaining for playing practical jokes on new human members of staff. Thor on the other hand was often heard to complain that the human males never used to hold doors open for _him_ when he was there.

**Apophis Palace – Delmak – November 2001**

'My Lord, I must report that we have lost another System to the enemy fleet spearheaded by Baal's forces' the Jaffa announced as Apophis sat on his throne looked up from the stone tablet in his hands.

There was a time not too long ago when Apophis would have struck down the Jaffa for delivering such news but reports of this kind had become increasingly common recently and, while it was usually cathartic, shooting the messenger wasn't a good long-term policy. 'Which System?' he asked.

'Erebus My Lord' the Jaffa told him, voice trembling.

The Goa'ulds eyes flashed and he snapped to his feet, throwing the stone tablet and the page-turning stone resting on it into the distance where it clattered onto the polished stone floor. 'Erebus?' he bellowed. 'How did this happen?' he demanded to know.

'A great battle was fought but the Hat'ak vessels of Baal were too formidable for our fleet' the Jaffa replied. 'Our own forces bombarded the planet to destroy the shipyards before Baal could take possession of the planet' he added.

Apophis once again considered executing the messenger and raised his hand with the bejewelled ribbon device upon it to do so, relenting at the last second. 'Baal will soon rebuild the manufacturing facilities there' he said.

'Our forces were very thorough, it will be many months at least before your enemy can once again begin construction of Ha'tak's' the Jaffa told him, head bowed, eyes fixed on the floor.

'I needed that world to help replace my own losses' Apophis responded.

'The first of your new advanced-model Ha'taks nears construction My Lord' the Jaffa noted. 'They make the ones that were being built on Erebus look obsolete by comparison' he pointed out.

'Quantity has a quality all its own' Apophis responded. 'Damn the Tau'ri' he raged, 'if they had not destroyed the prototype of the new Ha'tak we would have been producing them in quantity long before Baal entered the war.'

'They will pay for their crimes' the Jaffa declared with certainty, nobody could challenge a god with impunity.

'Of course' Apophis agreed. 'Return to your duties' he ordered, the Jaffa offering a yet deeper bow and departing.

From what Apophis had determined by analysing the results of battles between his forces and Baals new ships, the latter were in fact still superior to even the new improved and upgraded Ha'tak designs now under construction in the Delmak Shipyards. Where Baal had obtained such radically advanced technology of apparently Ancient design was still largely a mystery to Apophis but nonetheless it was still not too far advanced for Baal to blithely ignore the numerical superiority Apophis enjoyed and the technological edge Baal possessed was going to be closed up still further by the new ships being built.

The war had not gone remotely as well as Apophis had originally thought it would. The early period of untrammelled success had become a hard grind once the other System Lords put their differences aside to present a united front against him and now _he_ was clearly the one on the defensive, his forces gradually being driven back, losing the gains they had previously made. The enemy appeared to possess suspiciously good intelligence as to the deployment of his fleets which gave them a strategic advantage, Baal's advanced Ha'taks had offered a tactical edge and the wretched Tau'ri and their Tok'ra allies, fighting without a shred of honour, had been hitting his supply lines relentlessly, causing logistical problems disproportionate to their numbers and forcing him to re-deploy troops from the front lines to garrison duty to deter them.

Strangely as his forces fell back things were becoming easier for Apophis in some ways. His lines of supply were shorter and easier to guard, he had less worlds amongst which to divide his occupation troops and fleets could be more easily transferred between the various fronts because they weren't as spread out. Losing an important manufacturing base like Erebus, or a major naquadah mining planet like Kawawn were a blow but many of the planets being retaken by the enemy were only a matter of prestige not military importance. The Coalition of System Lords were not strong enough to deliver a swift knock-out blow and as time went on the balance would soon once again shift in Apophis favour as his new ships entered the fray.

Unusually for a Goa'uld world Delmak was heavily populated and highly industrialised, and several of the other worlds Apophis had inherited from Sokar were likewise developed beyond the typical agrarian colony populated by uneducated, god-fearing, superstitious peasant slaves typically favoured by the System Lords. This gave Apophis the ability to replace material losses more readily than most of his opponents and meant that he could suck-up defeats which would have shattered the ability of his rivals to make war. The reoccupation of Chulak and the other worlds he had once ruled before becoming a prisoner of Sokar had provided much needed additional replacement manpower for his armies as the campaign wore on, and despite everything the bulk of his war machine remained intact and formidable.

The Jaffa who had been sent away to his duties suddenly came rushing back in. 'My Lord' he exclaimed. 'A new fleet of powerful warships has attacked our borders' he reported. 'They appear to be the same as those being using by Baal but have declared themselves openly to be in the service of...' he said, voice petering out as Apophis glared at him.

'In the service of _who_?' Apophis demanded to know.

The Jaffa took a breath. 'Anubis' he replied nervously.

'Anubis was stripped of his rank as System Lord a thousand years ago by the High Council' Apophis retorted, 'he is also _dead_' he added.

'It would seem not' the Jaffa replied, suitably fearful of correcting his god but it was sometimes his duty and a Jaffa put duty before all. 'The communication said that the High Council recently voted to readmit him and he has joined the war against us' he said, that likely being part of the deal he reasoned accurately.

'Lord Yu would never have allowed that' Apophis retorted. 'He, my brother Ra and myself were instrumental in instigating the banishment' he said. Anubis was one of the few Goa'uld who were probably as evil as their reputation suggested, even others of his own race had feared him.

'You are of course correct but perhaps Lord Yu was outvoted?' the Jaffa reasoned. 'That these new ships declaring themselves to be of Anubis appear to be the same as those of Baal may indicate that it was he who swayed the Council?'

'Baal' Apophis snarled, spitting out the name. 'I will make his death particularly gruesome when the time comes' he vowed, perhaps even worse than he planned for the sholva Teal'c or O'Neill of the Tau'ri he thought.

'What are your orders?' the Jaffa asked.

'Order Lord Zipacna to move what vessels he has to block Anubis in the interim while I determine a new strategy' Apophis replied. After his defeat to Baal at Kawawn Zipacna had been rebuilding his fleet to act as a mobile reserve and this was the sort of situation where he would get a chance to earn his reputation as a valuable lieutenant back.

'It will be done My Lord' the Jaffa responded.

'And ready my flagship' Apophis added. 'If necessary I will meet my enemies in battle personally' he declared.

The Jaffa straightened up. 'It would be an honour for any Jaffa to fight at your side of his god' he said proudly.

Apophis nodded, thinking that the actual idea was to have the Jaffa in front so that they acted as a convenient ablative shield of bodies.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Given that she had been conducting research along similiar lines to Loki I'd say it's likely X-COM would have seen Nirrti as a valuable resource once she was taught to behave herself. The story of __Unit 731__ is pretty sick, both in terms of what they did and the fact so many of the bastards got away with it instead of ending up hanging from a rope._

_Heimdall__ the Asgard scientist working at their research station in the __Adara System__ in episode 5:22 __Revelations__ was voiced by Teryl Rothery (who also played Dr Janet Fraser) and did as a result sound a great deal more female than say Thor (who was voiced by Michael Shanks aka Daniel Jackson). The __original Asgard__ did look a tad like an __Ethereal (the all-telepathic hostile alien race in X-COM)__ so I thought why not? It just helps to tie the two universes together a bit more for Loki to be following the same line of research as Heimdall and the Ethereal form appearing as a result._

_Delmak__ was Sokar's capital world and then became that of Apophis, it did appear considerably more developed than most worlds we saw on the show and logically (at least to me) it was Delmak's industrial output which had made Sokar's fleet so large compared to those of the other System Lords. __Erebus__ was the sight of the Ha'tak construction yard (and concentration/forced labour camp for disloyal Jaffa) shown in episode 7:04 __Orpheus__. The improved Hat'ak design of Apophis appeared in episode 4:03 __Upgrades__. It is stated in episode 5:16 __Last Stand__ that Lord Yu was on the High Council when Anubis was kicked out a thousand years earlier. Logically Ra and Apophis would have been back then too so Apophis and Anubis already have a history._


	19. Chapter 19

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Stargate – P89-534 – November 2001**

'Alright, I want everyone to keep in mind that this is the planet where Apophis captured the original SG-11 back in '99 so just because it looks like nobody's home doesn't mean a damn thing' O'Neill announced after everyone had dropped into the standard defensive deployment around the gate after arrival. 'I want SG-13 to stay here and defend the gate if we have to leave in a hurry, SG-8 is coming with me and SG-1 to recon that village by the ruins the UAV spotted to the East' he ordered.

'Yes Sir' Colonel Dixon the commander of SG-13 responded, 'but can I request that next time we don't get stuck with gate-watching duty?' he asked.

'It's the number, everyone thinks we're Jaffa magnets' Wells from SG-13 muttered.

'Why would that be an issue?' Teal'c queried.

'Triskaidekaphobia' Daniel replied. 'It's the fear of the number 13 and it's more widespread in our culture than you might think' he told him. 'It dates back to Ancient Babylon at least' he added.

'It's got a _name_?' O'Neill asked incredulously, more surprised by that than he was that Daniel would know the word if it existed.

'Yes' Daniel confirmed. 'Fear of Friday the 13th in particular is known as Paraskavedekatriaphobia' he noted.

'And _this_ is the reason I don't play scrabble with you any more' O'Neill declared. 'You could be making it all up and I'd never know' he said.

'Are you taking the Mighty-Malp along as fire-support?' Dixon queried, indicating the armed and armoured tracked robot vehicle which had come through the gate first and was now stood off to one side of the stone steps leading to the stargate.

'Not this time Colonel' O'Neill replied. 'They're sending a prototype through from the X-COM base in Poland they want us to field-test' he said. 'Didn't want to spoil the surprise' he continued with a grin as the stargate started to fire up indicating an incoming wormhole from the second gate on Earth.

The pseudo-splash of the gate was followed a couple of seconds later by a shape starting to emerge from the event-horizon.

'What the hell?' Dixon said in amazement as what looked like a futuristic Main Battle Tank emerged from the gate, the real shock being that it was floating better than six feet off the ground as it went, only gently lowering itself towards the surface of the planet once it was fully through the gate being too wide not to pass through any lower.

'They're calling it a Mega-Malp' Carter explained. 'It's basically our version of the Cyberdisk, the automated hover-tank the Sectoids use I mean' she told the astonished personnel of SG's-8 and 13. 'The armour is an improved version of the British Dorchester that adds Trinium to the laminate' she noted, 'the main gun is a Laser Cannon from an F-302 and it's got twin rotary staff-weapons, one on each side of the turret' she continued. 'The powerplant is an elerium engine for flight plus a naquadah reactor for the laser and to power the deflector shield.'

'It's got a goddamn _shield_ too?' A Major from SG-8 queried in surprise.

'Again the same as on the F-302X' Carter replied. 'It's pretty heavy with the armour, weaponry and the heavily upgraded sensors so it can't go much above a hundred and fifty miles an hour flat out but I'm going to love to see the expression of the first Jaffa that fires a Staff-Cannon at it' she said, walking over to it and unhooking a helmet hanging from a fastener on the side of the machine. 'It can run on its own or you can drive it remotely using one of these helmets' she said. 'Direct neural interface and an eyepiece that feeds from a camera mounted with the guns' she told them putting on the helmet.

The hovertank began to glide forward a yard above the ground. 'It's got zoom on the camera too' Carter said with a grin as she flipped an eyepiece in front of her right eye.

'We'll all want to have a go eventually Major' O'Neill told her, 'don't get too attached'.

'Spoilsport' Carter replied, as the turret on the machine began to sweep the horizon. 'It's very intuitive' she remarked.

'Just don't run any of us over' O'Neill told her. 'Okay, lets move out' he ordered, 'Carter have the thing follow us' he added as he led off, Teal'c and Andianov to his left and right.

'Heel' Carter told the machine which started to follow the two teams at walking pace, about ten yards behind. 'Good tank' she told it.

'Have you considered getting a real pet?' Daniel asked her a few minutes later as they made their way towards the village.

'I don't need to take this one to the vets' Sam replied, playing along 'and it's better than a guard dog.'

'I can see it now' Daniel replied, 'a sign on the front of your house saying, "Beware of the Nuclear Powered Flying Robot Tank".'

'It would definitely deter most burglars Major Carter' Teal'c observed thoughtfully.

'Sir we need to name it' Carter realised.

'They won't let you keep it Carter' O'Neill replied with a sigh, 'we only got the job of testing it because they thought you could fix it if the thing breaks down' he reminded her. Most SG Teams weren't quite so blessed in the brilliant physicist and applied engineer department. 'And it's called Harvey' he added with finality.

'Harvey?' Daniel asked. 'I guess you don't mean the six foot invisible rabbit?'

'As in Armoured Vehicle' O'Neill replied. 'Ar-Vee' he explained.

'I can live with that' Carter agreed. 'You know it's got a robot arm in there too under a hatch' she noted.

'Major we are not teaching the tank to play fetch' O'Neill told her, causing a lieutenant from SG-8 to start laughing.

'The fact you said it means you must have thought of it too Sir' Carter told him with a grin.

'I do not understand why you are anthropomorphising this machine' Teal'c stated.

'That would mean we're attributing human characteristics not animal' Daniel told him. 'Zoomorphising would be more accurate' he added.

'No scrabble games again _ever_' O'Neill vowed.

They left the hovertank a mile outside the village, hoping not to intimidate any locals they might find, but found it long deserted before moving onto the stone ruins of a rather more advanced culture close by. Daniel was starting to decipher a wall of inscriptions in a Phoenician dialect which led him to believe they had found the remains of an off-shoot of the extinct Tobin Civilisation when they came under attack from a companies worth of Jaffa loyal to Apophis.

The Jaffa were slightly confused at the Tau'ri battlecry of "Sic 'em Harvey" but they didn't have much time to ponder the meaning of the phrase before a large, floating machine, utterly impervious to their weapons appeared in their midst spitting a continual stream of laser and plasma fire and the situation became very unpleasant for them indeed.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – December 2001**

'It was only luck we found out about the asteroid out as far as we did' Carter told them. 'Whatever Goa'uld did it they made sure to direct it so it would arrive far off the plane of the elliptic where most of our telescopes looking for objects that close aren't pointed' she told the two senior officers who were in confereance with SG-1.

'Plane of the elliptic?' Commander Sharp queried.

'It's the two dimensional plane where most of the planets and asteroids in the solar system are found' O'Neill explained before Carter could. Astronomy was the only science he had more than a passing familiarity with, his idea of a good vacation was spending all day fishing by a lake and looking at the stars through his telescope after the sun went down.

'Right' Carter confirmed, 'the asteroid was spotted by an amateur astronomer looking at the Constellation Cassiopeia, declination sixty-one degrees, six minutes; right ascension two hours, forty-eight minutes' she said, O'Neill feeling smug that he was likely the only person in the room completely following her for once. 'We determined it was on collision course with Earth and that it was very, _very_ large.'

'One hundred and thirty-seven klicks end to end' O'Neill noted. 'Dinosaur Killer' he added, miming an asteroid collision with the planet by thumping a clenched fist into the palm of his other hand.

Daniel nodded. 'On impact it would have been the greatest mass extinction since the end of the Cretaceous' he agreed.

'Whole other league to dodging those little falling rocks on Edora' Colonel O'Neill said, 'I mean P5C-768' he explained to General Hammond.

'Would have been?' Sharp replied, 'isn't that a little presumptuous?' he asked. 'It's _still_ coming as far as I was aware?' he asked.

'Yes Sir but we do have a plan' Carter told him. 'We'll probably need your influence with X-COM to put it into practice though' she told him.

'Yeah we'll need to borrow something for a couple of weeks' O'Neill added, with a smile. 'Carter promises not to scuff it up any' he said.

Sharp was immediately even more paranoid and suspicious than normal which for him meant a great deal. 'Blowing it all to hell would have been easier' he commented.

'Yes Sir' Carter agreed, 'but after Captain Tanner intercepted it with the _Redemption_ it became apparent from the gravitational field it was far denser than it had any right to be' she told him. 'If Tanner had dropped a Goa'uld-Buster on the asteroid to try and nudge its course it would have caused the asteroid to detonate like a small nova' she said. 'Even that far out the effects on Earth would be catastrophic' she noted. 'A week closer and it would have sterilised the planet and boiled the oceans.'

General Hammond winced. '_How_ much naquadah?' he asked nonplussed, he had already had a quick briefing before Sharp arrived.

'Approximately forty-five percent of the asteroid by mass' Carter told him. 'It's only low-grade ore but we're talking in terms of billions of tons.'

Sharp blinked. '_Billions_?' he repeated.

'Yes' Carter confirmed.

'That's a _lot_ of naquadah' Daniel sagely observed.

'That's a lot of _anything_ Danny' O'Neill responded.

Teal'c looked thoughtful. 'I am not aware of any System Lord ever possessing even a tiny fraction of that amount of naquadah' he said. 'It would represent a stockpile of unimaginable worth.'

'Well it would solve the worlds energy problems for a few... millennia... anyway' Carter remarked. 'Which is kind of where we're going with this' she told Commander Sharp.

'Yes?' Sharp queried.

'Well we can't blow it up, or even use a nuclear device to try and deflect it' Carter told him, 'but we can physically push it into a different course' she said. 'We reason that the Goa'uld bought it here through hyperspace then accelerated it using a Ha'tak so...'

'We want to use the _Enterprise_ to push the thing ourselves' O'Neill finished for her.

Carter nodded. 'Given the mass of the asteroid and what we plan to do with it it'll take weeks of constant thrust with the Ha'tak to achieve our objective' she said.

'So it doesn't hit Earth?' Sharp reasoned.

'Oh no that wouldn't be so much trouble' Carter told him, 'we want to _mine_ it' she told him. 'We can use our Ha'tak to slow it down to a more reasonable velocity then move it by hyperspace ourselves to the outskirts of the Solar System' she said, 'out beyond the Oort Cloud so if it did explode it wouldn't be a major problem' she continued. 'We set up a mining operation and use smaller hyperspace vessels like Tel'tacs to haul the ore back to Earth.'

'The Oort Cloud is the mass of comets and other junk left over from the formation of the Solar System out past Pluto' O'Neill told Sharp.

'Okay, that's... ambitious' Sharp commented.

'It's the motherload' O'Neill told him, 'if we could get our hands on a small percentage of the naquadah in that asteroid we'd never have to worry about prospecting and mining other planets for the stuff ever again' he said. 'Heck we could give it away... or better yet bribe the Tok'ra with it' he suggested.

'We'd have to be crazy not to try' Carter agreed. 'The downside is that we wouldn't have the Enterprise in Earth Orbit for several weeks which opens us up to more Sectoid attacks' she pointed out. 'That's why we need you to put the case to the X-COM hierarchy Commander' she told Sharp.

Sharp frowned. 'Our retrieval teams are already taking a hammering from the Ethereals' he said. 'We've probably got enough Reapers and Firestorms in the air now to intercept the majority of UFO's we can't yoink the engines out of with the Redemption but if we haven't got the Enterprise covering our ass it still means more alien ships getting through' he told them. 'We're short of deployable grunts because we never know if we're facing Ethereals so the troops with low psionic strength are on ice for now' he continued. 'If only we had the hyperwave decoder facilities up and running, at least then we'd know when we could deploy the others.'

'Hyperwave Decoder?' Andianov asked curiously, for the most part she kept quiet in these briefings knowing her input would be unlikely to be helpful as a rule, her skills lay in shooting things not strategy or science.

'The Sectoids use a Faster-Than-Light communication System which we think is based on the same basic principles as the subspace transmitters and receivers the Asgard use for real-time communication across lightyears' Carter told her. 'We're calling it hyperwave' she explained, 'all their transmissions are heavily encrypted so even after we worked out how to listen in it made no sense but by putting together a few super-computers we can decode enough of the message fast enough to be useful' she continued. 'The hyperwave transponder signal Loki's ships generate tell you what type of vessel it is, where the ship is going and what mission its on and the race aboard.'

'If the hyperwave tells you it's a ship full of Ethereals you send in a Skyranger full of troops with known high psionic strength like O'Neill here' Sharp added. 'If it's a bunch of Muton's with the telepathic ability of a cabbage you send the low psionic strength grunts after them' he continued. 'The problem is our detection net isn't anywhere near finished yet' he said sadly.

'How are you doing with our own use of psionics?' General Hammond asked curiously. 'I know the program has been underway for some time now' he said.

'They think they finally have a workable Psionic Amplifier design that's usable in the field but it requires months of training and we're only gradually getting our troops up to speed with it' Sharp replied. 'It works just like the Sectoid or Ethereal psionics, eventually we'll be able to panic, mind-scan or even control the bastards' he said then chuckled, 'and they think they've also got a custom Psi-Amp for Cassandra that she won't melt' he announced.

Major Carter pursed her lips. 'What does Janet have to say about that?' she asked.

'I won't repeat all the words used, she may have taught me some new ones, but suffice to say Doctor Fraser expressed a clear hostility to the continued role Cassandra is playing in our psionics program' Sharp replied wryly.

'If I ever hear that Cassie is anything but a completely willing participant you'll hear some choice phrases from me too Russ' General Hammond told him seriously.

'I don't think that attempting to force Cassandra with a psionic amplifier to do something against her will would be all that wise anyway but I'll note the warning George' Sharp responded. 'As for the asteroid I'll talk to the powers-that-be and give you an answer within an hour' he said.

'Even if we don't go through with the mining we'll still need the Enterprise for a couple of days to deflect it off-course' Carter noted.

'_Billions_ of tons of naquadah?' Sharp verified.

'Yes, with a b' Carter confirmed.

'We'd be able to nuke the Goa'uld all the way back to P3X-888' Sharp said happily. 'Someone remind me to send a note of thanks to the dumbshit that gave it to us' he requested.

'It was only luck that we saw it coming and even luckier that we didn't blast it without checking first Sir' Carter pointed out. 'If we'd only spotted it when it was looking right down our throats we might have just shot first and never got the chance to ask questions afterwards' she said. 'It was a clever way to try and circumvent the Protected Planets Treaty when you think about it' she opined. 'The Asgard would send a ship to fight a Goa'uld invasion fleet but not a big rock.'

'Don't underestimate luck Major' Sharp replied, 'Napoleon considered a lucky officer more valuable than a good one.'

'It seems to work out for Jack' Daniel responded. 'Not that I mean you're not a good officer too' he added quickly as O'Neill gave him a look.

'Do you consider yourself lucky or good Commander Sharp?' Teal'c asked him out of interest.

Sharp considered the question. 'Wilfully determined would be a better description than either' he decided.

**Free Jaffa Camp – P8X-987 – December 2001**

'There has been some friction between our own forces and those newly arrived with K'tano' Bratac informed Teal'c as they watched a number of Jaffa practice the martial art used by the warriors of the Goa'uld Imhotep called mastaba. K'tano had arrived here on the planet Hanka three weeks earlier supposedly seeking to ally his own Free Jaffa faction, but it had become apparent he had a fierce desire to take on the mantle of overall leadership.

'It is to be expected' Teal'c replied. 'K'tano was First Prime of Imhotep before slaying him and leading his Jaffa in rebellion' he said. 'He is used to command and many Jaffa from the armies of other System lords have already flocked to his cause' he continued, 'he likely feels he is chosen by destiny to lead.'

'Destiny perhaps' Bra'tac responded, 'but he will need to demonstrate wisdom and humility as well to prove his worth' he stated. 'He did not react well to the easy defeat of his warriors in the training yesterday' the Jaffa-Master commented.

'Indeed' Teal'c replied, with the hint of a smile.

'You need not look so smug Teal'c' Bra'tac chided mildly.

'His forces outnumbered mine three to one and were soundly defeated' Teal'c replied. 'Perhaps now he will realise that equipping our warriors with the Tau'ri Staff-Rifles, and by using some of their small-unit infantry tactics, the Free Jaffa can be far more effective soldiers' he said.

'A valuable lesson it is true' Bra'tac conceded, 'but I feel you would have kept the moral high ground, as well as holding the tactical high ground in the exercise, if you had not shot K'tano in the backside with your Intar when ambushing his advance' he told him.

Teal'c nodded. 'I sometimes suspect I have spent too much time with O'Neill' he replied sadly. 'On the other hand perhaps his temporary difficulty remaining comfortable when sitting down will aid K'atano learn some of the humility you believe he requires' he suggested.

Bra'tac couldn't help but chuckle. 'Perhaps you are right' he said. 'K'atano's willingness to throw lives away cheaply in suicide attacks certainly necessitates a shift in his thinking' he opined. 'We are still too few in number to waste the Jaffa we have' he said, as they turned and headed towards the firing range. 'You say that the reason Major Carter is not with you is that she is moving an asteroid?' he asked.

'Yes' Teal'c confirmed. 'We believe that one of the System Lords bought it to the Tau'ri home system and launched it at their world in an attempt to destroy it whilst not risking the wrath of the Asgard Fleet' he said. 'With the assistance of the Tok'ra scientist Anise she is using the humans captured Ha'tak to accomplish the task' he continued. 'The Tok'ra have also offered their tunnel crystals to aid in mining the core of the asteroid which is particularly rich in naquadah' he told him.

'And the price the Tok'ra asked for this assistance?' Bra'tac queried.

'Several hundred tons of weapons-grade naquadah every year in perpetuity' Teal'c replied.

'_Tons_?' Bra'tac gasped.

'The asteroid is truly massive' Teal'c told him. 'The Tau'ri are already making plans to use the naquadah from it to power orbital defences the likes of which would make many System Lord's tremble in fear at the thought of coming up against them' he continued. 'Imagine one of the X-COM Laser Rifles scaled up so that that the barrel barely fits through a stargate' he said.

'A fearsome image is certainly conjured' Bra'tac responded. 'Although the shields of a Hat'ak could easily absorb such energies for some time' he noted.

'The Tau'ri are great believers in mass-production' Teal'c told him. 'It would not be a single such beam striking the shields but instead many' he continued. 'Only a great fleet arriving all at once could overwhelm such defences and with the bulk of the armies of the System Lords at war with each other the Tau'ri reason none could spare so many for the conquest of a single human world.'

'For now perhaps but eventually either Apophis or the System Lord's opposed to him will emerge victorious' Bra'tac replied. 'The stories I have been hearing from newly arrived Jaffa about the new vessels Anubis is using are disturbing' he said. 'They are superior to even those of Baal which themselves are beyond anything the Goa'uld have used previously.'

'The Tok'ra informed us that Baal obtained the technology for them from Anubis though it appears he naturally kept the very best designs back for himself' Teal'c replied. 'We are not certain how he came by such advances however.'

'As a child I remember my own grandfather telling tales of the evils perpetrated by Anubis before he was banished and thought dead' Bra'tac remarked. 'That even the other Goa'uld reviled him must be a cause for major concern now he has returned.'

Teal'c nodded. 'Nirrti apparently turned quite pale when informed of Anubis returning and said she hoped the other System Lord's had the good sense to immediately turn on him once Apophis was vanquished.'

'With yet more Jaffa falling in battle in the process' Bra'tac replied. 'Throwing their lives away for false gods' he said sadly as they neared the firing range where O'Neill and the female warrior of the Tau'ri Andianov was teaching a class made up of K'tano's Jaffa how to use a Staff-Rifle properly.

Another small group of K'tano's men freshly arrived through the chappa'ai was approaching and Teal'c instantly recognised one with a degree of shock. 'We may need to intervene to prevent violence' he told Bra'tac, starting to hurry.

'_You_!' a Jaffa exclaimed, recognising the Tau'ri female. 'Thanks to you I was banished for my failure and had to flee Chul'ak' he cried out. 'It was months before I found a new home and allegiance with K'tano' he said.

Lyudmila Andianov turned and faced the Jaffa, transferring her Staff-Rifle to her left hand. 'I would think your inability to walk properly for some time after our last encounter would have been your major grievance' she replied, recognising him easily thanks to the scarred forehead.

'Friend of yours Sergeant?' O'Neill asked, walking over, the Staff-Rifle in his hands ready for action.

'Intimate acquaintance' Andianov responded. 'This Jaffa was the one working for Heru'ur that tried to capture Teal'c as an offering to Apophis' she told him.

'Tau'ri bitch' Rak'nor snarled, reaching for the zat'nik'tek on his wrist holster but stopping before he could draw his weapon because he was barely there before the woman's pistol was already aimed right between his eyes.

'Alright everyone calm down' O'Neill ordered as the rest of K'atano's Jaffa nearby started to react to one of their own having a gun pointing at him.

'Rak'nor' Teal'c exclaimed as he arrived. 'You do not wish to do this' he said.

'Ah the famous Teal'c once again we meet' Rak'nor responded, eyes remaining locked with the female. 'Perhaps you seek to once again stand idly by while a Tau'ri strips me of my honour.'

'It was another part of your clothing I stripped' Andianov pointed out. 'If you had just told us what we needed to know I would not have needed to interrogate you like that' she said flatly. He had in fact held out far longer than she would have expected, Jaffa were stoic in the extreme, even under torture.

'Oh so this is the guy you zapped with the stun-rod' O'Neill realised, remembering the mission report she had made with a grimace as he thought about it. 'Okay I can see how you might hold a grudge' he told him 'but...'

'She will kill you Rak'nor, you are Free Jaffa now and the Tau'ri are our allies and we should not kill each other' Bra'tac told him. 'We heard of your exile after the death of your master Heru'ur, that Terok sought your death because the plan to capture Teal'c failed' he continued, 'at least now you realise that the Goa'uld are truly false gods and that now you fight for the freedom of all Jaffa.'

'It was nothing personal' Andianov told him honestly.

'What is going on here?' K'tano asked loudly as he arrived to see what the commotion was about. 'Why is this Tau'ri female aiming a weapon at one of my Jaffa?'

'He went for his zat first' O'Neill spoke up. 'She's just... really damn fast' he told him.

'It is true K'tano' another Jaffa confirmed.

'I will holster my pistol if he takes his hand away from his own' Andianov offered.

'There you see, everyone calms down and then nobody gets shot' O'Neill said.

'How can I be expected to be _calm_?' Rak'nor exclaimed.

'Sergeant, say you're sorry' O'Neill told her.

'I was only doing my duty and will not apologise for it Colonel' Andianov replied. 'If the situation had worked out differently Rak'nor knows that it would have been Teal'c being interrogated by torture instead because of his actions' she said.

Rak'nor opened his mouth to retort but realised it was true. Terok had planned to torture Teal'c with a pain-stick and had boasted to him of this. 'If you were a man I would challenge you to a fight to the death' he told her.

'It is a good thing for you that I am not then' Andianov responded, though she knew in the hand-to-hand or quarterstaff-style combat the Jaffa favoured she would be at a severe disadvantage.

'There is no honour in killing a woman Rak'nor' Bra'tac told him, offering him a way out.

'True' Rak'nor agreed and slowly moved his hand away from his zat'nik'tel, Andianov lowering her pistol as he did.

'Okay show's over, everyone go about your business' O'Neill said with relief.

As everyone dispersed K'tano approached Teal'c. 'The Tau'ri do not keep their women under sufficient control' he observed. 'Their ways are not ours and I do not believe the Free Jaffa are well-served by aligning ourselves so closely to them' he said.

Teal'c looked to where O'Neill was having a quiet word with Andianov. 'They are skilled warriors with much to offer our cause in weapons and new ways of thinking' he replied.

'Their ways of war lack honour' K'tano declared. 'The Jaffa you trained in their methods fight like bandits' he said disparagingly.

'When it is called for' Teal'c admitted. 'In battle they do however triumph over superior numbers of Jaffa fighting in the traditional manner almost every time' he noted.

'The humans do not even provide the best weapons they have' K'tano complained.

'That is true and I have often raised this matter with their leaders' Teal'c replied. 'Even so the Staff-Rifle has proven itself in the field to be a superior weapon to the Goa'uld Staff it is based upon.'

'For shooting accuracy at least' K'tano conceded.

'It could be worse brother' Bra'tac told him. 'If the Tau'ri had provided their older projectile weapons we would be dependent upon them for ammunition' he said.

'It is amazing they were using such primitive technology so recently' K'tano remarked.

'And yet even _those_ were superior in combat to what the Goa'uld have given the Jaffa to carry for so long' Teal'c said, 'weapons of war rather than weapons of terror and intimidation.'

Bra'tac looked around. 'Daniel Jackson is approaching from the direction of the stargate' he said.

'O'Neill sent him earlier to fetch a device from Earth as a gift of sorts for you Master Bra'tac' Teal'c told him. 'It is called a Mind Probe.'

'A Mind Probe?' Bra'tac queried.

'A device invented by the renegade Asgard Loki that enables you to read the surface thoughts and intentions of another' Teal'c explained. 'With our recent surge in recruitment O'Neill fears we may be infiltrated by Jaffa still working for the System Lords' he said. 'They may not even be aware of it, the Goa'uld have used brainwashed zatarc agents before, but the Mind Probe detects such unwitting tools of the enemy.'

K'tano's eyes widened. 'I do not think my warriors would submit to such an invasion of their mind' he said. 'I will have to talk to them about this' he said, turning and leaving in a hurry as Daniel arrived.

'Hey Teal'c' Daniel greeted them holding a silver metal sphere in his hand. 'I picked up the mind-probe, they said not to lose it, they're expensive' he said.  
'Daniel Jackson what is the range on that device?' Teal'c asked, as both he and Bra'tac watched K'tano hurry away suspiciously

'A couple of hundred feet I think' Daniel replied, 'why?' he asked in confusion.

'Please scan the Jaffa heading towards the stargate in a hurry' Teal'c requested.

K'tano, or rather the minor Goa'uld Imhotep, was half way through dialling the gate when Teal'c ran up and shot him in the back with a zat'nik'tel. When he woke up they let Rak'nor question him before turning him over to the Tau'ri for more in-depth and mentally invasive interrogation back on Earth, it was thought that the scarred Jaffa might benefit from blowing off a little steam and it did seem to improve his mood quite a lot.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_P89-534 is mentioned in episode 3:09 __Rules of Engagement__ as being where SG-11 was captured by Apophis Troops. To me that says the world was part of his domain and had enough of a garrison to defeat an SG Team. The Tobin were the Phoenician descended people that made the minefield featured in episode 4:13 __Serpents Venom__. The "Mega Malp" just seems a logical result of the technology available. It's a much larger hover HWP from X-COM with Stargate tech added. The inner diameter of the stargate is apparently 17 feet so if you went through half way up you could deploy a fairly large vehicle (an M1 Abrams is only 12 feet wide)._

_That really was an awful lot of naquadah in episode 5:17 __Failsafe__. a 137km asteroid which is 45 naquadah by mass is a truly staggering amount of the material. I thought the **Redemption** was a good name for the alien ship from Martin Lloyd's world incidentally, hope others agree. Edora was the planet hit by meteors in episode 3:17 __A Hundred Days__. O'Neill has been confronted with big falling rocks from space before. P3X-888 is the Goa'uld (and Unas) homeworld in case the designation temporarily slipped your minds ;-)_

_Just the XSGCOM version of episode 5:18 __The Warrior__. The Free Jaffa organised by Bra'tac are still based on Hanka (AKA P8X-987 or Cassandra's World) and are more numerous in this time-line because with the war on, the hold of the System Lord's over their domains is shakier and because the Free-Jaffa have been more proactive earning a wider reputation (Staff-Rifles would give them quite an edge over regular Goa'uld-Loyalist Jaffa in a firefight so they've been pretty successful in their small-scale raids against Apophis)._

_Reviews are always welcome._


	20. Chapter 20

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Tok'ra Base – Revanna – January 2002**

Elizabeth Weir looked around the circular room with its crystal walls. The Tok'ra had made it especially for this conference and it looked like they had taken the task seriously with plenty of ornate furnishings added and what appeared to be a silk banner behind each representative present emblazoned with their respective people's insignia.

The table they were sat around was itself a huge crystal which caught the light and seemed to almost shimmer making it almost a shame to be covering the section before her with a laptop computer and sheets of paper. 'I would first like to thank High Chancellor Per'sus of the Tok'ra for hosting this meeting' she began earning a smile and a small bow of acknowledgement from their host sat also directly across from her, 'next I offer my thanks to both the governments and the representatives of the Asgard, Nox, Tollan and Aschen for attending' she continued, 'on behalf of the United Nations of Earth I hope that this is only the start of a new era of fruitful contact and cooperation between our peoples' she said.

'Tollana shares the same wish' High Chancellor Travell from the Tollan Curia agreed. 'My people have already established firm and mutually rewarding relations with the Tok'ra and Nox and look forward to deepening friendship with both the Asgard and Aschen' she said. 'Although we have been isolationist for many centuries, and intend to continue our strict policy of neutrality, the Tollan are becoming increasingly aware of changes in the overall galactic situation and have come to accept the need for a more dynamic foreign policy in order to best meet the challenges of the future' she continued. 'We all have something to offer the other societies represented here today, be that technology' she said, looking at the Asgard and Aschen representatives, 'or wisdom and sage counsel' she added, smiling warmly at Lya who smiled back.

Penigal from the Asgard High Council had his own notes in front of him, although like the Tollan and Aschen these were being projected holographically by small devices rather than being written on the paper of the primitive humans of Earth or on a seemingly stone tablet like the Tok'ra. 'The Asgard are pleased at the development of this body' he told them, 'although our ongoing war with the Replicators means that our presence in this Galaxy will remain sporadic for the foreseeable future and we may not be able to attend all future conferences in person like myself rather than as a hologram' he told the others apologetically. 'Like the Nox we were once part of the Alliance known as the Four Great Races, along with the Ancients and Furlings, and we hope that such an Alliance might be reborn for the benefit of all' he said grandly.

Lya nodded. 'It is a shame that the Furlings are not also in attendance' she opined. 'Both my people and the Asgard tried to contact them but we have had little contact for many centuries' she said. For her part she seemed to be working without notes or recording devices purely from memory which was unsurprising considering how bright the Nox were. 'My people were both very pleased and reassured that the Asgard at least are involved in these discussions' she noted, 'we have been friends for many millennia and value their opinions even though we have long differed on philosophical matters' she said.

'Whilst we praise the Nox stance of utmost pacifism at some levels the Asgard have always maintained that it is utopian to think that not fighting always brings about the best outcome' Penigal told the others. 'For some groups such as the Goa'uld a threat of force is quite literally the only thing they understand' he stated, earning a nod of heartfelt agreement from Per'sus and a more reluctant one from Travell, the Tollan regarding their advanced defence technology as a necessary evil.

'If it wasn't for the Protected Planet's Treaty, and the Goa'uld perception that the Asgard would intervene militarily on our behalf, Earth would have been conquered by a coalition of the System Lords years ago' Weir concurred. 'I am not a fan of the military solution and prefer civilised, diplomatic alternatives whenever possible, but regretfully I have to recognise that even if we do our best to avoid war we face foes who are not likely to respond to any political overtures not backed by force.'

'The Aschen are also concerned about the Goa'uld threat to our Confederation' Mollem their representative told the group. 'Although we are more advanced overall our ships are no match for theirs in speed, and the worlds of the Confederation consist of a handful of planets which could be invaded one at a time in a concerted move by the System Lords' he said. 'Our only available means of defence at present would be a pre-emptive strike by biogenic weapons launched through the stargate and our present government is reluctant to contemplate genocide' he lied.

Daniel Jackson had once said that the Nox liked everyone, it was their way. In fact this was not true, Lya had taken an immediate dislike of Mollem and the Aschen as a whole and the combination of their near lack of emotion and humour, plus their near extermination of the Volian Union two centuries before, gave her the creeps. Empathic to some degree she couldn't read Mollem at all and that was viscerally disturbing to a member of a species like the Nox who tried to live in harmony with those around them. 'Killing countless others to save yourselves is immoral' Lya declared.

'There are billions of Aschen' Mollem stated, 'we have a right to self-defence' he replied flatly.

Travell nodded. 'And to that end the Tollan Curia is voting on the matter of supplying our Ion Cannon weaponry to the Aschen Confederation' she said. 'In addition to the other technology transfers between us' she announced.

Mollem read his holographic notes. 'Following negotiations brokered by Earth the Aschen are providing the Tollan with our Teleportation Platform technology in return for Tollan built stargates for the worlds of the Confederation that do not have them' he said.

Lya turned to High Chancellor Travell. 'I hope that these stargates will all be restricted as we requested' she asked. The Nox had been the ones that helped the Tollan develop the ability to make their own gates and would not want the technology used to ill purposes.

'The Tollan built gates cannot be manually dialled and can only be used at present to open wormholes to other worlds in the Aschen Confederation' Travell confirmed. 'They can be unlocked at a later date if required but the technology is tamper-proof' she declared. 'Given the Aschen actions against the people of the Volian Union the Tollan fully agree that the Confederation needs to demonstrate good faith over a long period of time before we can trust them with fully operational stargates and lists of gate addresses' she said. 'Likewise Earth and ourselves will not be providing them the faster Goa'uld Hyperdrive technology.'

'The Aschen Confederation accepts these terms and trusts we will prove in time that we are not the same people we were two centuries ago' Mollem responded. 'Earth has agreed to provide the necessary naquadah for the stargates in return for a small number of our teleporter platforms' he added.

'We're also providing the material for the gates Tollana is producing for the Tok'ra and ourselves' Weir pointed out.

'In trade for access to some of our technology and expertise' Per'sus reminded her. 'It's not like you cannot now readily spare the naquadah' she added.

'Our new Cruiser using the Goa'uld Hyperdrive design we obtained from Earth will place the stargates on the respective worlds both the Tok'ra and Earth requested' Travell said. 'Each will be fitted with a force-field to prevent unwelcome visitors but given that they will be gate coordinates and worlds entirely unknown to the Goa'uld that should not be a problem anyway' she said.

'You went for the shield optional extra too then?' Weir asked Per'sus.

'It wasn't too much more' the Tok'ra High Chancellor replied. 'You intend a secret base like our own?' she asked.

'Yes, far more secure than our Alpha or Beta sites' Weir answered. 'As well as the force-field we're fitting one of our own trinium alloy iris shields in case of power-failure.'

'Unnecessary I assure you' Travell told her.

'Tollan forcefields can't be manually hand-cranked closed in an emergency' Weir told her with a smile. 'We like a back-up plan whenever possible' she said.

Travell chuckled. 'Tollan technology is supremely reliable' she said confidently.

'I'll admit that we're possibly paranoid as well as primitive' Weir responded. 'How has your research into elerium panned out?' she asked curiously, 'we did ask for regular updates in return for allowing Tollan Scientists and engineers access to Sectoid Technology' she noted.

'My Technical Advisors tell me that the naquadah allotrope you call elerium was definitely synthesised from the original material but they cannot as yet determine how this might have been accomplished in an economic manner' Travell replied. 'We have managed to reproduce it ourselves using nanotechnology, simply rearranging the atoms of naquadah into the correct crystal structure, but the cost is prohibitive beyond belief' she said.

'The Asgard ran into the same problem when we investigated elerium' Penigal confirmed. 'We suspect Loki must have developed some kind of self-sustaining catalytic reaction that breeds elerium from highly refined conventional naquadah but for now we are none the wiser on the actual methodology' he admitted.

'The Aschen would be willing to investigate, perhaps we would bring a new approach that might achieve results' Mollem offered.

'I'll pass the offer on to my superiors' Weir told him. 'Elerium has been a gift to Earth technological progress because it offers shortcuts to technologies we would have been unable to develop so quickly otherwise' she said. 'The gravity engines on our F-302 Fighters or Plasma weaponry for example.'

Penigal muttered something in Asgard which only Lya understood. 'The Plasma Beam weapon you back-engineered from Sectoid Vessels is originally of Asgard design' he said changing to a language all could understand. 'We have been working on a replacement for the energy pulse weapons carried on our Beliskner and now O'Neill Class Cruisers for some time and it appears that Loki used the elerium as what you called a shortcut in making it work' he told them. 'For any given input of energy the beam is more precise and effective at cutting through shields than current Asgard weapons, or those of the Goa'uld' he explained.

'It's a scalpel used to cut precisely instead of a club used to batter through brute force' Weir said, recalling an explanation one of the X-COM engineers had told her.

'Correct' Penigal replied. 'Scaled up from the version carried by the tiny Sectoid ships the Plasma Beam technology would give a capital ship like the O'Neill unparalleled firepower' he said.

'Our Ion Cannon already give us an overwhelming edge over the Goa'uld' Travell observed.

'Because like our pulse weaponry you use an element of phase shifting to help penetrate Goa'uld shields' the Asgard responded, 'if the Goa'uld developed better shields your cannon might prove underpowered to smash them down' he continued. 'The beam weapon concentrates force at a point and drills through so less raw power is required to defeat the shield even if the improved design initially held.'

'It is said that the new ships of Baal and especially Anubis may be a match for the Asgard' Per'sus interjected, 'unless we see more evidence I am inclined to think it hyperbole but we do know they are considerably more formidable than other Ha'tak ships in Goa'uld service' she said.

'Tollana is confident of our Ion Cannon but the new Cruisers offer additional insurance against attack' High Chancellor Travell remarked. 'I doubt the Goa'uld would risk attacking us if they believed retribution would fall upon their heads soon after' she continued. 'We now have phase-shifting missiles that cannot be shot down with warheads that would devastate a continent at their lowest yield and crack the crust of a planet if necessary' she said.

'As a world not bound by the terms of the Protected Planets Treaty, which of course prohibits the Asgard from providing advanced technology to the worlds under our protection, the Asgard High Council may be willing to offer you more advanced shields than you can provide yourself for your new Cruisers' Penigal told Travell. 'As our Beliskner Class is retired from active duty we have a number of their shield generators available as surplus awaiting possible disposal' he said. 'They are second-rank designs by modern Asgard standards, the O'Neill Class that is replacing the Beliskner is more heavily protected, but they are still far more effective than Goa'uld shields' he stated.

'We'll take them' Travell said quickly. The Tollan were well aware of the superiority of Asgard Shields over those of other races.

'I will talk to the High Council on your behalf' the Asgard told her. 'We may ask a favour in return such as the use of the Tollana System as an occasional base of operations and resupply in this Galaxy' he said.

'I will have to discuss this with the Curia of course' Travell responded, 'but the Asgard Fleet is always welcome to visit Tollana' she told him. For one thing the presence of Asgard ships in the vicinity had a tendency to make every usually belligerent Goa'uld Hat'ak ship within a hundred light years suitably nervous and mild mannered.

'I would be happier to hear of these shields being placed to protect cities than warships' Lya observed sadly.

'In an ideal universe we wouldn't need them at _all_ ' Travell replied.

'The Aschen Confederation would very much like access to this defensive technology if the Asgard are offering it to other advanced human cultures not covered by your treaty with the Goa'uld' Mollem spoke up.

'It _may_ be possible' Penigal replied guardedly. Not a chance, he thought to himself privately.

'If not, Earth has an improved version of Goa'uld shields that utilises Sectoid designs to enhance them and would be willing to exchange them for Aschen technology' Weir interjected. 'Our people are interested in your anti-gravity devices which judging from your harvesters appears to be ahead of the Goa'uld' she said. 'We'll exchange one for the other if that is acceptable' she offered.

'That may be acceptable if the Asgard are unwilling to offer us their own shields' Mollem agreed. Once they got a look they would almost certainly be able to improve the design still further themselves given that the confederation was scientifically centuries ahead of Earth if apparently still somewhat behind the Tollan overall and far behind the Asgard.

After the Conference it was agreed that the Tollan would host the next meeting and Lya accepted an offer of a lift back to her homeworld on Penigal's ship, it only being a few minutes out of the way at the speed of an Asgard Hyperdrive. Mollem was the first to leave, being escorted back to the stargate by Tok'ra security who dialled the gate for him and as soon as he was gone everyone else compared notes on just how much the Aschen made their flesh crawl.

Back home Mollem advised his government that they should continue to play nice with the aliens for now until they had caught up militarily because for now the Tollan were too powerful to provoke and the Asgard could crush them like a bug. Work was accelerated at new shipyards in preparation for the construction of an Aschen Navy to rival that of any Great Power in the Galaxy or beyond, all they needed was to bide their time and only make their move when they were ready.

The Tollan didn't trust the Aschen an inch and regularly dispatched one of their new phase-shifting Cruisers, which the Tau'ri nicknamed Ghostriders, to the Confederation to spy on them. For their part the Tau'ri merely made sure to regularly, and in an unsubtle manner, remind the Aschen just how powerful a thermonuclear bomb encased in ten metric tonnes of weapons-grade naquadah was and just how many of the damn things Earth was stockpiling, the Tollan and the Asgard might have their high-tech as a deterrent but the apparent willingness of the Earth Military to turn heavily populated worlds into vast expanses of shattered and cratered radioactive glass on a whim was something the Aschen almost admired.

**Stargate – P3X-116 – January 2002**

Thanks to the ubiquitous terraforming of much of the galaxy first by the Ancients, then the Goa'uld, with the Asgard and Nox occasionally dabbling in it too, one planet on the stargate network was often pretty much like another as regards fauna and flora with a few examples of non-terrestrial life on occasion. The stargate here was amongst some sand dunes at the edge of a forest, and there was really very little of note to look at, once you've seen one mass of trees you've pretty much seen them all.

As always SG-1 had arrived through the gate ready for trouble but they hadn't found any and after a while with nothing better to do as they waited for their contact to turn up they started to chat. Well O'Neill, Carter and Daniel started to chat, Teal'c said very little and Andianov continued to dutifully watch the tree-line, her pharmaceutically-enhanced intense focus on the task at hand overriding the boredom of having nothing to shoot at.

'We just couldn't beam through all that rock' Carter explained. 'The naquadah core of the asteroid was tens of kilometres down under ordinary rock so we needed the Tok'ra crystals to tunnel down to it' she said. 'Once we had that done we could use the transporters on the _Redemption_ to just beam the unrefined naquadah into its cargo holds and haul back few hundred tonnes at a time' she told them. 'It's only a fraction of a light-year out, less than a couple of minutes for a hyperdrive on maximum, so Captain Tanner just shuttles back and forth when he's not beaming elerium engines out of Sectoid Ships' she said.

'But they're constructing a permanent mining base?' Daniel checked.

'Yes with a naquadah refinery and several batteries of base defence laser cannons, missile silos and a squadron of Reapers to hold off an attack' Carter replied. '_Enterprise_ and _Redemption_ could be there to help defend the asteroid in less than a couple of minutes if required too like I said' she continued. 'We're hoping to snag an Al'kesh eventually and strip it out for cargo runs, hauling the stuff back to Earth round the clock.'

'Someone could still blow it up' O'Neill pointed out.

'True but we eventually hope to mount a Ha'tak Hyperdrive on it so we can actually move the entire asteroid at will' Carter replied. 'Thanks to the Tok'ra we're well on the way to being able to do that, the first Earth built capital ship hyperdrive is earmarked to be mounted on the Prometheus Project but once you've made one the second is always easier.'

'Prometheus?' Daniel queried.

'The X-303, it's a USAF project, US funded but with X-COM technical assistance in a few areas' Carter told him, 'Earth's first self-built interstellar warship.'

'Based on captured Goa'uld and Loki's technology' Daniel noted. 'Prometheus stole the secret of the fire from the gods' he said with a smile, 'very appropriate.'

'I'm hoping they don't stick with that name for the ship itself' O'Neill commented. 'It's a Greek tragedy.'

'Sorry to tell you this Sir but its likely they will' Carter told him. 'The X-303 will probably be like the X-301 was, a prototype for testing out some of the technologies before a design for full-scale production model craft is produced' she added.

'X-304?' Daniel queried.

'_BC_-304, BC for battlecruiser using naval abbreviations' Carter replied.  
Colonel O'Neill checked his watch. 'We were supposed to meet our contact here fifteen minutes ago' he complained. 'If he doesn't show up in the next five dial Earth' he ordered. 'I'm not going to sit on my ass here all day' he declared.

'Why not Jack? It's a nice day for a picnic' came a disembodied voice from nowhere that had Teal'c and Andianov snap their laser-rifles to their shoulders ready for action.

'Oh you've _got_ to be yanking my chain' O'Neill moaned as a figure snapped into view beside them turning off a personal cloaking device attached to his belt.

'Like it?' Maybourne asked, 'it's amazing what you can get a Goa'uld to make for you with sufficient motivation' he said tapping the device, 'Nirrti says the battery isn't as long-lasting as the original, because she had to use some less efficient Earth tech for some of the components, but it's good for a couple of hours between recharging' he told SG-1.

'What the hell are you doing here Maybourne?' O'Neill demanded to know. 'And why are you dressed like that?' he asked.

'It's my cover, I'm a trader' Maybourne replied, 'the look is a little medieval I'll admit but if you're going from planet to planet in a pretty low-tech galaxy you've got to try and fit in' he said. 'So how are things on Earth?' he asked, 'it's been a couple of months since I left.'

'Still there' O'Neill replied, 'now I _know_ you didn't leave via the SGC so...'

'X-COM gate in Poland' Maybourne interrupted. 'They've been sending people through for a while to gather covert intelligence' he explained, 'Our CIA, British MI6, French DGSE, Russian SVR, Israeli Mossad... all the greats' he continued. 'X-COM didn't want to rely on the Tok'ra for human intel so they asked for volunteers' he told them. 'There's dozens of us out here all doing our spooky best to help defend the homeworld' he announced, 'makes you proud' he declared with a grin. 'Needless to say I'm one of the key operatives' he added smugly.

'And my opinion of X-COM went up for not trusting the Tok'ra and then straight back down again for trusting you' O'Neill told him.

'They recognise talent when they see it Jack' Maybourne replied, 'and you know I'm good at what I do even if you might not think the reason I'm doing it is on the up and up' he said. 'Anyhow you're here to give me some back-up so we might as well get on with it' he said brightly.

'Sergeant if this man leads us into an ambush shoot him' O'Neill ordered.  
'Yes Sir' Andianov replied.

'I don't mean stun him with a zat' O'Neill noted. 'I mean kill him' he said.

'So I assumed Colonel' Andianov replied. 'I will also have my motion-tracker to hand if he activates his cloak' she added.

'She'll do it you know' Daniel warned Maybourne.

'Indeed' Teal'c affirmed.

'Consider me suitably warned' Maybourne told them. 'Okay so you're probably wondering why you're here?' he said.

'I was told we were meeting an operative off-world who had information for us' O'Neill replied.

'Kinda' Maybourne replied, 'come on I'll explain on the way' he said, leading off.

'Where are we going?' O'Neill asked suspiciously, staying where he was.

'Goa'uld base a few miles thataway' Maybourne told him, pointing. 'I already scouted it out and they're not expecting trouble' he said. 'The front lines are better than a five hundred light years from here and all the System Lords in this part of the Galaxy are allies fighting against Apophis' he said.

'I'm not going one step until you spill everything' O'Neill told him.

'And if we are not satisfied that which may be spilled could be your blood' Teal'c told Maybourne.

The former NID officer sighed. 'Okay, we found out that Anubis was setting up a new base on this planet' he said. 'The guy has a lot of high-tech but not much in the way of territory as yet so he's expanding his turf into uninhabited worlds like this one' he explained. 'All his Hat'aks are off fighting Apophis right now so the only ships he's got for jobs like this one are Tel'taks and Al'kesh' he continued then grinned. 'We're going to steal an Al'kesh' he declared.

'We are?' Carter asked in surprise.

'Well technically Teal'c there is because I can't fly one' Maybourne replied, 'but with my cloaking device and a distraction from the rest of us he should be able to sneak in, get aboard the one landed at the base, pick us all up with the rings and get the hell out of dodge before Anbis Jaffa realise what the hell is going on' he said.

'Oh yeah sounds like a detailed well thought out plan to me' O'Neill responded sarcastically.

'Hey we've only been hitting Apophis for the last few months' Maybourne reminded him, 'there's only a small number of Jaffa setting up the base, it'll be a walk in the park.'

'Damn it Maybourne don't tempt fate saying stuff like that!' O'Neill exclaimed.

'Relax Jack, everything is going to be fine trust me' Maybourne told him.

'Not in this lifetime Harry' O'Neill responded. 'What do you think Carter?' he asked.

'We _do_ need an Al'kesh' Carter replied. 'And one of Nirrti's cloaking devices would give Teal'c quite an advantage' she continued. 'I say we check it out ourselves and if it looks possible it's worth a try.'

'Teal'c?' O'Neill asked. 'Sounds like you're getting the dangerous job here' he told him.

'If the garrison is small and unprepared and the Al'kesh grounded and poorly secured as it well might be in the circumstances it would be an ideal opportunity to seize the craft' Teal'c replied. 'I am prepared to undertake the mission' he said.

'We know that Anubis can detect cloaked ships, maybe he has portable tech for his Jaffa that can detect cloaked people too' Daniel warned.

'The System Lords already have the Transphase Eradication Rod developed to detect and fight the invisible Reetou, and knew that other Goa'uld such as Nirrti had developed personal cloaks, but nonetheless they did not routinely issue the weapon' Teal'c replied. 'This would indicate that they do not take the threat as seriously as they should' he opined.

'Hey they didn't detect _me_ when I poked around their camp earlier' Maybourne told them.

'Okay let's go take a look but if this looks risky I'm plugging the plug on the mission' O'Neill announced. 'Lead on Harry' he told him.

Truth be told the entire operation went without a hitch. Teal'c wearing the cloaking device Maybourne gave him simply sneaked into the unfinished base, which was in the early stages of construction and poorly garrisoned, and when the rest of SG-1 provided a sizeable distraction by detonating C4 charges and lighting up the other side of the camp with laser and zat fire an invisible Teal'c entered the Al'kesh through an open bay door zatted it's very surprised crew, threw them out of the ship and took off, picking up the rest of the team as they ran from the scene under the cover of a few smoke grenades.

Teal'c also had the presence of mind to plant a C4 charge of his own on the second Al'kesh parked next to the one he stole. It had nearly caught up with them when the plastic explosive detonated and pieces of the pursuing ship rained down onto the planet as SG-1 headed out of the atmosphere so they could engage the hyperdrive.

They dropped Maybourne off on another empty planet with a stargate before heading back to Earth. O'Neill told him that if the next time they met he could direct them at one of the upgraded Ha'tak's of Baal or Anubis which was available for easy theft he might even start to like him a little bit.

**Near the Galapagos Islands – Earth – January 2002**

Cameron Mitchell watched with satisfaction as the three Reapers assigned the job of bringing down the Sectoid Battleship went about their business professionally. The largest type of Sectoid Craft carried a large plasma cannon which outranged their own, meaning that you couldn't bring them down with impunity like you could smaller vessels, but they had soon developed tactics to cope with that. Two F-302X aerospace fighters would close to within range of their own recently developed X-COM plasma cannon and fire off as many shots as they could before the Battleship scored a hit on one of them whereupon the Reaper would immediately back off out of range and let its now almost depleted shield recharge while another fighter took over its place. The third fighter also had the job of keeping any Foo Fighters off the ass of the two attacking the battleship, they couldn't afford to be hit without their shields close to a full charge or they might not survive and would certainly incur damage.

Searing bright green beams of energy lanced through the sky towards the metallic grey battleship while the rest of the squadron dealt with the enemy vessels escorts, a small squadron of Foo Fighters which were now dogfighting for their lives against the less manoeuvrable but faster and shielded Reapers.

The heavy plasma beams, each Reaper had two one being slung under each wing on the inboard missile pylon, were unsuited for anti-fighter combat due to their low rate of fire so the human pilots relied on the laser cannon built into the F-302's wing roots for the fast-turning close in fights with the Foo-Fighters. Occasionally you got the ideal target, a Sectoid pilot dumb enough to stay on the same course for more than a couple of seconds in which case you could vaporise him with a single blast of plasma, but generally they made you work for it Mitchell thought regretfully as he tried to get on the tail of an enemy craft.

It didn't help that he was being forced to hold fire on his lasers trying to get in close for a decent hit with the unwieldy weapon slung under his Reapers belly and connected to a huge capacitor in the fighters internal bay. 'Give me a break Marvin' Mitchell hissed as the Foo-Fighter he was chasing jinked hard to the left, messing up his shot once again.

'_Battleship is going down_' a pilot whooped as the Sectoid ship finally succumbed to the multiple blasts of superheated matter fired into it and began to drop towards the ocean trailing thick smoke.

'You're next you bug bastard' Mitchell swore as he managed to line up another shot, pressing the firing stud on his joystick. 'Shit' he added as the Foo-Fighter performed a sudden climb avoiding the massive zat'nik'tel cannon blast the human pilot had fired at him, the discharge barely missing its target but nearly hitting just wasn't enough.

'Thirty seconds to recharge the zat-cannon Sir' the co-pilot in the back seat told him.

'Okay Banks' Mitchell replied as he continued pursuit. The advanced mind-controlled navigation, avionics and sensors in the Reaper meant that although the fighter had two seats it often flew with just a single crewman, but for this operation he needed someone along to monitor the largely jury-rigged extra weapon. Another Reaper chasing down its own prey, laser-cannon firing as it went flashed past the nose of Mitchell's nose and momentarily scared the crap out of him, a mid-air collision was not the way he wanted to go.

'Zat-cannon ready' Lieutenant Banks reported. 'If this works I hope they manage to catch it' he continued. 'It'll probably drop like a stone when we hit the thing' he stated.

'That's the other guys problem Lieutenant' Mitchell told him. 'We zap it, they snatch it' he said, hoping that the Reaper crew carrying the large folded trinium cable net slung under their own airframe remembered not to be going too fast when they did, because inertial dampeners or not the sudden jolt on the Reaper of scooping up a plummeting Foo-Fighter at high speed would likely rip the F-302X apart, they were constructed of trinium and the extremely strong alloys used by the Sectoids but they weren't that tough.. 'All things considered I think we got the sweet end of the deal' he said seriously.

'You and me both Sir' Banks agreed wholeheartedly.

Mitchell managed to draw a bead on their quarry again wishing that zat blasts went at the speed of light like a laser, or a fair percentage of it like a Sectoid Plasma Beam, because it would give the Foo-Fighter less opportunity to dodge the...

'Got him!' Mitchell hollered triumphantly as the zat-cannon scored a direct hit on the Foo-Fighter engulfing it in the usual lightning-like effects just scaled up by nearly two orders of magnitude. As expected the energy discharge had much the same effect on the unshielded enemy fighter as it did on other Sectoid equipment like their Cyberdisc hovertanks, the craft simply ceased to function properly, all the electronics went haywire, the gravity engine safeties all kicked in simultaneously and the Foo-Fighter suddenly did a very good impression of a falling rock.

'If the bug flying that thing had hair it would all be standing on end right now I reckon' Mitchell joked as the Reaper with the net dove down to catch it. 'It must be like getting shocked by a Taser the size of a Buick' he said, starting to laugh.

When Major Carter arriving back on Earth in a captured Al'kesh heard the news that her zat-cannon had worked she did a little dance of joy which she made the rest of SG-1 promise not to tell anyone about. Meanwhile when Mitchell's Reaper squadron got the Foo Fighter back to Area 51 the base engineering team, who had instantly got to work stripping it down in order to back-engineer the technology, stated the best description of its unfortunate pilot when they opened up the cockpit was "crispy".

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Revanna__ was the site of the Tok'ra base destroyed by the Goa'uld Zipacna working for Anubis in Season 5, it's their temporary hide-out while the Tollan establish their new one here. __Penigal__ was a member of the Asgard High Council seen in the series. A swap of __Tollan Stargates__ for the __Aschen Transporter Platform__ seemed reasonable. The Tollan gate didn't have an obvious external DHD so I'm guessing all the required tech was built into the gate itself. All they've done is program the gates given to the Aschen so they will only dial a restricted number of destinations. The Ancient-built stargates the Aschen already have don't have a DHD either which means they don't automatically compensate for stellar drift like the Tollan ones would._

_The Tollan "Ghostrider" (I think it's a good name) is larger than a BC-304 but still a lot smaller than a Hat'ak. It mounts their Ion Cannon and carries a load of extremely powerful warheads (a misused Tollan energy source blew the planet Serita__ off its axis so they should be able to make very impressive bombs). Without the restrictions placed on them by the __Protected Planets Treaty__ the Asgard might well decide to give the high-tech and largely well-meaning Tollan their obsolete shield generators. They later gave the things to Earth after all._

_I really can't see the Aschen being popular even if they are trying to play nice in this timeline. The Tollan would be apalled at an advanced human civilisation like themselves deliberately wiping out a less advanced society and I just can't see the Nox regarding unemotional types with a track record of genocide too favourably either._

_The Sectoid Plasma Beams from X-COM being developed from early stage Asgard R&D into the Plasma Beams we saw them provide to Earth in the last episode of series 10 of Stargate SG-1 seemed like another opportunity to merge the universes. The Asgard version is still considerably better incidentally, it's just not ready yet because they haven't got the elerium needed to skip over some of the problems they've encountered in getting the things to work. Loki makes elerium from naquadah in a similar way that the Goa'uld Thanos made naquadriah from it three thousand years ago, it's easy if you know how but nobody else ever seemed to work it out _

_P3X-116 was a world Tanith (then working for Anubis) was scouting for a new base in episode 5:14 48 Hours. It's mentioned in episode 6:01 by Bra'tac that "Anubis has grown powerful, but still only defends a small handful of planets" which is likely why he was looking for more territory._

_A standard Ha'tak at this time apparently had a maximum speed of 32,000 times the speed of light. At that speed the Oort Cloud is very close! __The anti-Reetou Transphase Eradication Rod (TER) was used by the SGC to find Nirrti so it did work on personal cloaks like hers._

_The far more powerful and longer-ranged craft plasma cannon in the first X-COM had a far lower rate of fire than the fighter armament in X-COM: Interceptor, it was great for downing big lumbering UFO's but wouldn't be well suited for dogfighting. A back-engineered X-COM Plasma Beam Cannon had a 52km range, which outranged the armament of all the alien ships in X-COM except the Battleship which fired a more powerful beam out to 65km.__Lieutenant Adam Banks__ was Mitchell's co-pilot in the battle over Antarctica against Anubis in the show incidentally (I'm never too proud to borrow a character)._

_Reviews are always welcome though most of you don't bother... for shame :-p_


	21. Chapter 21

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – February 2002**

Jacob Carter, usually addressed these days in Tok'ra company as Selmak, stepped out of the stargate into the SGC expecting to find his daughter waiting for him on the ramp but instead found himself looking straight into a battery of weapons mounted on a turret that was apparently lowered from a mounting on the ceiling. 'I surrender' he said, grinning at Samantha who was stood next to it.

'No offence meant Dad, everyone gets the same reception these days, our teams included' Sam Carter told him as the turret smoothly retracted upwards out of the way. 'Eventually someone is going to get hold of one of our GDO's' she said. 'They might be surprised at what happens if they step through' she added. 'You're late' she told him before walking up the ramp and giving him a quick hug.

'Had to deal with something urgent back on Revanna' Jacob replied.

'Trouble?' Samantha asked nervously.

'Overdue paperwork' Jacob responded with a sigh, well technically it was more like stone tablet work using a goa'uld data device but it was no more interesting for that. 'I was told by the boss herself that I couldn't leave without finishing it' he said.

'Sounds like Per'sus and General Hammond have a lot in common' his daughter responded with a laugh. 'He once told Colonel O'Neill that if he tried to leave the base without filling in a report he'd have armed guards turn him back from every exit' she said. 'We'd better get a move on, the briefing is about to start' she told him, leading off.

'Was that a Staff-Cannon on that thing?' Jacob asked, pointing upwards to the turret which had been looking right down the stargates throat from a position just in front of the blast door.

'Taken from a Deathglider' Sam confirmed, 'set between twin rotary staff-weapons and a pair of fully automatic shotguns' she told him.

'Automatic shotguns?' Jacob asked, following her towards the door out of the gate room which was sliding open.

'Twelve-gauge miniguns, power-fed from hoppers, six hundred rounds of buckshot a minute each' Samantha told him. 'In case we ever have to deal with Replicators coming through the gate' she explained. 'They're based on the autocannons X-COM used to give their troops before they had lasers' she said.

'Loud' Jacob observed.

'Very' Sam agreed.

They eventually arrived at the briefing room where General Hammond and Commander Sharp were already talking to the rest of SG-1. 'Nice to have you here Jacob' Hammond greeted his old friend as they sat down.

'Always nice to get back home even for a little while George' Jacob replied. 'Selmak says it's an honour to be invited' he added.

'I think the idea is that if we're more open with the Tok'ra, you might be more open with us' Colonel O'Neill observed.

Jacob bowed his head slightly and raised it again, his voice shifting as he did so. 'We were concerned to hear that for some time Earth has been undertaking intelligence gathering missions using agents unknown to us' Selmak stated.

'Bites to have the shoe on the other foot for once does it?' O'Neill asked with some amusement.

Selmak turned to him. 'We Tok'ra have been infiltrating the Goa'uld for centuries' he said. 'Your people are amateurs by comparison' he declared. 'They will only cause trouble and likely hinder our efforts.'

'Or do so much better they make you guys look bad' Sharp responded.

'The Tok'ra High Council would like to know where your people are and what missions they are undertaking' Selmak requested, ignoring the human's snide reply.

'Okay, but only if we get the same information for all Tok'ra agents' Sharp countered.

'That information is restricted' Selmak told him.

'You're not big on the whole cooperation being a two-way-street thing sometimes are you?' Sharp asked. 'Quid pro quo, Selmak, we've swapped technology on an even basis which was fair but you won't give us parity on Intel so we have to compensate' he said. 'Until the Tok'ra High Council lets us in on all their dirty little spy secrets we're going to be running our own cloak and dagger games out there too' he said.

Selmak lowered his chin to his chest and Jacob took over again. 'You're making a mistake if you're going along with this George' he told General Hammond.

'It's out of my hands but frankly I've got to agree with the assessment that the Tok'ra haven't exactly been as forthcoming over the years as they might have been' Hammond replied. 'Relations are better now than they've been in the past, definitely more amicable and our pooling of scientific research has helped both of us, but we're still working to different agendas with different styles and that's not likely to chance anytime soon' he said.

Jacob shrugged. 'I just hope you come to your senses and listen to us more before you end up getting my favourite planet in the galaxy blown up or enslaved' he said.

'We really don't get enough recognition for what we've done' O'Neill muttered. The Tok'ra had accomplished less against the Goa'uld in the last two thousand years than Earth had managed in the last five as far as he was concerned.

'As for technology transfer the High Council have been very interested in the reports Anise has been sending back' Jacob told them, changing the subject because it wasn't likely to get anywhere. 'She's been damn complementary regarding your successes in producing hybridised weapons, ships and other equipment using Earth, Goa'uld and Sectoid technology' he said. 'The upgrades you're making to your captured Ha'tak for example' he noted.

'We've mounted a few dozen Laser Cannon Turrets on it that would swat Deathgliders like flies, and the shield is better than a regular Hat'ak, but it's still well behind what we know Anubis or Apophis is using these days Dad' Sam told him. 'Anise has helped us understand a lot about the systems and where we can tweak them but basically it's still an outdated class compared to the latest Goa'uld Motherships' she said.

'It's better than anything outside the fleets of Apophis, Baal or Anubis' Jacob pointed out, 'that's impressive in itself' he said. 'Anise also mentioned you're planning to install Plasma Beam weapons to supplement the main armament' he added.

Sam nodded. 'They're not unstoppable super-weapons or anything but they could probably take out an Al'kesh with one shot' she told him. 'Against another Hat'ak they wouldn't punch through a fully charged shield but we do think that if you could weaken the enemy ships shields in advance with our Ha'taks standard main guns you might be able to cut through them with a beam and start inflicting heavy damage before the opposition could knock out the shields of the Enterprise' she continued. 'It's an edge in a one-on-one fight at least' she said.

'Not really so much help if we're outnumbered ten to one by an invading fleet then' Daniel remarked.

'Which would be a good low-end estimate of the odds' Jacob told him wryly.

'Gotta start stealing more motherships' O'Neill said, 'make a note of that Sergeant' he told Andianov who like Teal'c had been sitting quietly listening and unlike him occasionally jotting something down on a pad of paper.

'We still have one more than the Tok'ra ever managed Colonel' Andianov pointed out.

'True' Teal'c confirmed.

'Anise also said you recently managed to capture one of Loki's fighters but it's not a project she's directly involved in' Jacob said.

'Yeah but if we thought we'd be able to get anywhere fast back-engineering the Foo-Fighter we were being wildly optimistic' Sharp said glumly. 'I read a report from Area 51 in my office just before I came here' he announced.

'Too damaged by the zat Cannon?' Sam asked, 'I did wonder if the avionics systems might be too fragile for that much energy' she said. 'It would totally fritz one of our F-302's' she told them.

'Nope the fighter's fine, or at least it's not fried enough for that to be a major problem' Sharp replied, 'after taking it to pieces the R&D people are saying that we were all _badly_ underestimating just how much more advanced than the other Sectoid craft we've seen before their Foo Fighter really is' he told them. 'They're saying it could take six months to figure out exactly what part does what and then they've got no idea _how long_ it might take to work out in enough detail to replicate how it actually _does_ it' he said. 'They can tell it uses different drive, shield and sensor technology than the ships we captured before, and the plasma cannon is a generation ahead in efficiency, but beyond that they're just scratching their heads wondering where to even start.'

'If it's so much more high-tech than our fighters how come you've been able to fight them?' Jacob queried. 'It sound's like you've been taking P-51's up against F-15's' he said.

'I'll hazard a guess Dad' Sam offered, 'they're fighting out of their element' she said. 'Our 302's work in space but they're still primarily designed for fighting Sectoid and Goa'uld ships in the atmosphere' she continued. 'To give one obvious example sectoid shields don't work except in a vacuum unless they've had the Asgard designed modifications Thor provided' she said, 'the chances are that all of Loki's military research was, and probably still is, largely geared towards fighting the Replicators, stopping them in space before they even _reach_ Asgard planets' she suggested.

'Indeed' Teal'c concurred. 'If the Replicators reach the atmosphere of a world it is already likely too late to save it' he said.

Sam nodded. 'To Loki we're really just a genetic resource that forcibly objects to being exploited, not a threat to the survival of his race' she observed. 'If he wanted to destroy us he could have done so pretty easily years ago before we obtained any of the extraterrestrial defence technology we have now' she pointed out.

'He must want human DNA and experimental subjects bad to take the losses he is' O'Neill stated.

'There's another theory we're also being used to try out new weaponry and tactics now you know' Sharp interjected. 'Loki could be at least partially using Earth as a live-fire test arena for his new toys now, and seeing how good at soldiering and piloting his cloned grunts really are' he suggested.

'It does feel a lot like an arms race sometimes, war tends to speed up technological development and not just of military hardware, there's usually knock-on effects into other fields' Samantha observed.

'Perhaps he is honing his forces for a strike at the Replicators using the warriors of this world as the grindstone' Teal'c declared. 'The System Lords often tested their armies against other Goa'uld in such a fashion' he told them.

Daniel looked thoughtful. 'Darwinian pressures' he said quietly, 'we're _evolving_ them' he continued more loudly. 'That's exactly how Loki would think about it, he's supposed to be a geneticist right?' he asked rhetorically.

Sam blinked. 'Survival of the fittest' she said. 'Even if he had all the biological samples he needed Loki might _still_ continue to attack Earth indefinitely because he's not just driving our military development we're also driving _his_' she said.

O'Neill leaned forward in his chair. 'The Replicators did already stir up the Asgard into upgrading their fleet to the shiny and super slick O'Neill Class' he said. 'War breeds military innovation a thousand times faster than peace, I guess that's true of the Asgard as well as us' he theorised.

'The direction Tok'ra technology took was certainly more driven by our enemy than ourselves' Jacob told them. 'The tunnel crystals as a way to hide our bases, the cloaked Tel'tacs and the radioactive isotopes that blocks our operatives from Goa'uld scanners for example' he said. 'Selmak agrees it's logical to assume that Loki is developing military technology in response to the Replicators in the same way.'

'Unlike Goa'uld plasma guns the Sectoid ones project enough mass at a high enough velocity to act as a kinetic energy as well as a directed-energy weapon' Sam noted. 'Replicator bugs would be shattered just as effectively as they would be by a bullet and the power of the blast would probably turn the one hit into shrapnel destroying the ones near it anyway.'

Sharp frowned. 'Loki knows our weapons and tactics work pretty well against the Replicators so why not see how we fight to help him beat them' he said. 'Fas est et ab hoste doceri' he added with a sigh.

'It's proper to learn even from an enemy' Daniel translated, more than mildly surprised that the Commander could quote Ovid, especially in Latin.

'It's a dangerous universe' O'Neill observed, 'Sectoids and Replicators and Goa'uld! Oh my!'

General Hammond looked at the members of SG-1. 'Well at least you've already got the brains, heart and courage' he said with a chuckle. Having them whistle "We're off to see the wizard" every time they went through the stargate for the next month made him regret the comment later though.

**Underground Facility – P3X-989 (Altair) – February 2002**

'But why did you bring it _here_?' the android Captain Carter asked her doppelganger and the very human Major Carter as they waited together outside Harlan's Laboratory with their respective Jack O'Neills. Both Teal'c's were in the chamber where the stargate was situated inspecting the advanced defence precautions established to keep out uninvited Goa'uld guests along with a singular Lyudmila Andianov who was by inclination more interested in military matters than cybernetics or emotionally immature Artificial Intelligences.

'Daniels idea' Major Carter replied. '_Our_ Daniel I mean of course' she added. 'she was upset, she thought we all hated her because she was different so...'

'You brought a freaking machine that can make these damn Replicator things to our planet' the gears and wires O'Neill said to his flesh and blood counterpart irately.

'You're a machine too numb nuts' human O'Neill replied, crossing his arms.

'Which is why we brought her here' Major Carter said. 'Reese acts like a big kid, she was practically bouncing up and down when Daniel talked her into switching off the Replicators she made telling her there were other people just like her and she didn't have to be somewhere where she was different.'

'We are _not_ just like her' android O'Neill stated flatly.

'Well technically we're less advanced according to the notes they brought with them Sir' Captain Carter interjected.

'Hey we might be machinery but we're people, or at least we're perfect _copies_ of people' her commanding officer responded. 'This mechanical chick wasn't ever more than someone's science project.'

'Reese is self aware' Major Carter told them, 'she had emotions, she's more like a child than anything else' she continued. 'She's afraid that we'll kill her and when she's afraid she defends herself with her toys.'

'Killer Von Neumann machines' android Carter pointed out seriously.

'She promises not to make any if people are nice to her' human Carter replied. 'Just don't let her get... bored' she advised with a slight grimace. 'We're hoping that Harlan might be able to deactivate that ability, he's the closest thing to an android expert we could think of' she said. 'Heimdall the Asgard who's living at Area 51 these days ran some detailed scans which we brought along to help him' she said.

'Thanks for sending us regular updates on what's been going on back on Earth' Captain Carter said to their visitors. 'We've never met the Asgard but they sound pretty cool' she said.

'I like the little guys' the human Jack O'Neill said. 'Most of them try to do what's right and they've got guts' he told the duplicates.

'Heimdall wanted to take Reese apart, as their original creator she might be the solution for beating the Replicators' Major Carter told them, 'but Reese objected... and we didn't know how many stray Replicators bugs there might be hiding in the SGC so we backed off' she said. 'The hope is that Reese will be far more agreeable to having Harlan, and maybe you examine her, because you know that just because a lifeform is mechanical that doesn't mean it's bad or doesn't have feelings.'

'We'd all be better off killing the thing' both O'Neill's said simultaneously. 'Whoa, synch' they both continued then looked at each other.

'We brought a couple more naquadah reactors and some other gear for you' Major Carter told the androids. 'We're hoping that some of the technology of this facility, particularly the power transfer system, might be applied to the ships we're planning' she continued. 'If it can run continually for thousands of years with minimal maintenance it should be hardier and more battle resistant than Goa'uld technology' she said.

'Want me to see what I can come up with? The other Carter asked. 'I know this place better than anyone but Harlan, and I understand Earth technology better than he does.'

'I was hoping you'd say that' human Carter responded with a smile, 'the preliminary work is on the new laptop I brought for you.

'Hey it'll be fun' Captain Carter said, smiling back. 'This place is humming along nicely now so I've been getting bored sometimes' she admitted.

'Thinking of bored I bet you forgot to bring the latest Simpsons DVD's' android O'Neill said to his double accusingly.

'I'll throw them through the gate when I get back home okay' the other O'Neill said. 'I'll have to buy another set now' he muttered to himself bitterly. 'Now you guys have only been scouting the planets we told you to right?' he asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

'Yes' his android double replied. 'Only the gate addresses to planets that are too radioactive or have air that'll kill you wussy oxygen breathers' he told them. 'We never meet _anyone_ interesting' he complained.

'Hey be grateful we let you out at all' the somewhat more oxygen dependent O'Neill responded.

'We're too useful an asset to waste and you know it Sir' Captain Carter told him with a smile, 'there's plenty of worlds in the stargate network far too hostile to organic life for you to properly investigate' she said.

'And far too boring' her commanding officer added. 'Come on Jack, put in a good word with the guys upstairs, tell them we'd be more use kicking Goa'uld ass than guarding this place, looking at deserted planets and playing nursemaid to the geeks who come here from Earth.'

'The SGC spot for O'Neills is already taken' his double replied.

'I'll arm wrestle you for it' the android version replied. 'Yours would come off at the elbow when I put the pressure on but that would just prove my point about the best man winning.'

'You're not a man' the other O'Neill retorted.

'He's mean to you too' Reese interupted loudly with a pout on her face as the door to Harlan's Laboratory slid open. 'I like the Daniel that's like me' she said brightly, indicating the one of the two of them stood behind her.

'You're welcome to the crush' human Daniel whispered to the android one. 'She can't physically crush _you_' he added.

'I know a new word' Reese declared. 'Comtraya' she said mimicking Harlans hand gestures and clap as she said it. 'It means greetings and hello to friends' she announced with a beaming smile.

Harlan walked past her. 'Reese is very advanced but similar enough to us to understand her basic workings' he told android Carter.

'Harlan is very old' Reese said. 'Even older than I am' she declared. 'The Daniel that's like me will last forever like I will' she said. 'I'll never be lonely again' she said happily.

'So you won't need toys to play with' Major Carter asked meaningfully.

'No I can play with Daniel forever' Reese replied.

'And I'm sure the millennia will just fly by' that Daniel replied, staring into the distance. She was annoying him already even if intellectually he found her fascinating, being a true AI not a copy of human consciousness like he was.

'Just let her grow up emotionally before you teach her any "special" games assuming you're both equipped for that' human O'Neill told him. Reese looked like an adult woman but mentally she behaved like a girl many years younger in appearance.

'What special games?' Reese asked, 'I want to play special games!' she insisted.

'I'll let you explain after I'm long gone' human Daniel quickly told the android version who decided that the former had definitely turned into more of an asshole since they went their separate ways. How the hell do you explain the facts of life to an android that acts like a pre-pubescent girl?

'And you don't mind Harlan working on you?' Major Carter asked. 'Trying to figure out how you make and control your toys?' she asked.

'No he's nice' Reese replied, 'he reminds me of my father' she said. 'Only more silly' she added with a giggle. 'Comtraya' she said again.

'Comtraya' Harlan replied happily. 'It is a pity Hubald is not here, he understood so much more than I' he said regretfully. 'Though as you thought I know far more than you' he added honestly.

'We think Harlan went slightly strange being alone all that time but he's been getting better the last few years' android Carter whispered to the human one.

'Makes sense, your neural nets are more than advanced enough to suffer from that' the other Carter whispered back.

Both Teal'c's and Andianov wandered in. 'The defences are formidable indeed O'Neill' the Jaffa with a symbiote not a powerpack in his guts declared.

'We've got automated guns plus anybody coming through is instantly stunned like you were when you first came here anyway, unless they send the proper GDO code in advance' Captain Carter told them, 'if they got past that we've also got the Laser Rifles you provided plus Harlan's disintegrator pistol which gives us quite an edge in a firefight all on its own' she added. 'Worst case scenario we've got a naquadah reactor rigged to blow the facility to prevent it falling into hostile hands' she announced.

'We haven't figured out how that works yet' android O'Neill said with a sigh. 'Harlan cannibalised the others he had for spare parts centuries ago' he noted.

'It was another of the technological miracles invented by Hubald' Harlan told them. 'So many secrets died with him' he said with a sigh. 'But it is all becoming better again' he added in an upbeat manner.

'Perhaps I can make another?' Reese suggested, 'I can make things' she said.

'She uses nanotechnology and energy fields to rearrange atoms of material into anything she wants' Major Carter said. 'She made Daniel a little statue before she made one of her... toys' she said.

'I can show you' Reese offered.

'No creating self-replicating machines though, that's the rule, you know what happens if you break the rules Reese' human Daniel responded.

The android girl pouted again. 'Time-out's and grounding' she said, 'sent to my room with no TV and no play if I'm naughty.'

'That's right' Daniel told her. 'The other Daniel is going to have the same rules' he added.

'Can I explore now?' Reese asked hopefully, looking around 'With the Daniel that's like me?' she begged.

'If you say no she'll wheedle until you give in' the Daniel that wasn't like her advised. 'Just don't fold on the important stuff like making Replicators... or keeping her room tidy.'

'Daniel who's not like me is strict' Reese complained. 'My father was like that sometimes' she said.

'Not strict enough to my way of thinking' human O'Neill opined. 'And who designs a computer with Attention Deficit Disorder for crying out loud?' he asked rhetorically. 'We need freaking android Ritalin' he growled.

'Hang on, do we get child support or what?' the gears and wires O'Neill asked sternly. 'This is not a foster home for orphan robots' he declared vehemently, fixing the flesh and blood O'Neill with an icy glare.

**Torture Chamber – Baal's Fortress – February 2002**

Baal's lo'taur Shallan poured him another drink and then did the same for Nerus who thrust his goblet in her direction. 'Leave us' Baal told his slave who bowed and walked backwards a few steps before turning to depart looking suitably submissive. She had been present earlier when Baal had tortured a captured member of Apophis Royal Guard, a gravity generator pinning him to a weblike metal grille on the far wall while Baal horizontally dropped daggers on him and she was very glad to leave the place, it had been horrible to watch.

'Very attractive, she would make a good host' Nerus told Baal before taking a gulp of his wine, watching the human slave leave.

Baal rolled his eyes, a gesture learned from his host that expressed his thoughts on the matter very well. 'I didn't think the appearance of the host mattered to you Nerus' he replied scornfully. 'In fact the only things you ever seem to take note of are your next meal and your work, with the latter coming a distant second' he declared.

'I have been working my fingers to the bone on your behalf' Nerus replied. 'I missed brunch yesterday' he declared as if it were a sacrifice worthy of commendation. 'Barely so much as a snack between breakfast and lunch' he said woefully.

'But have you achieved anything?' Baal demanded to know. 'I gave you control of this facility where my most advanced research equipment is based and so far all I've seen as a result is that you can't go into any laboratory or workshop in this place without finding slaves trying to wipe up the scattered remnants of your meals' he said. 'If your accuracy at getting the food from the plate to your mouth is any indication I hope you do not carry a weapon because you would be far more likely to shoot yourself than your enemy' he stated with a sneer.

'You wound me My Lord' Nerus responded.

'When I decide to wound you Nerus you'll know about it' Baal vowed. 'Although I don't know if there's enough tal'vak acid in the entire galaxy to dissolve all the blubber in your body' he declared. 'I want results not excuses, what have you discovered from your research?' he demanded to know.

Nerus put down his goblet, it was a very good time to look professional he decided. 'Firstly it does appear from examination of the wreckage of ones we have destroyed in battle that the new ships of Apophis are not quite as advanced as we first feared' he said. 'The may be faster than any Ha'tak we have seen before but their shields and weapons do not have the vast superiority over the older designs that their hyperdrive does' he said.

Baal nodded. 'Have you determined why they are so swift?' he queried.

'It would appear that Apophis, or more likely Sokar, had developed a completely new hyperdrive which as part of the design encases the entire power-core in trinium' Nerus replied. 'It allows the core to run at a far higher output without overloading' he said.

'Can we copy this design?' Baal asked.

'Yes but unlike the less drastic upgrades Anubis provided we cannot retrofit it into existing vessels' Nerus told him apologetically. 'The entire Ha'tak is built around it' he said.

'Damn' Baal responded. 'Apophis has been using the greater speed of his new ships to considerable advantage and is able to counter-attack and reform fleets too rapidly for comfort' he said. 'Even battles Apophis loses are mitigated in the damage they cause him strategically by the ability of his fleeing Ha'tak ships to readily outrun our own' he noted. 'They outflank our advances easily forcing us to abandon deep thrusts into his territory in favour of a war of attrition.'

'We can convert one of our shipyards to start producing new vessels that use the technologies of both Apophis and Anubis but that will take time' Nerus told him.

'The war stretches on and on' Baal complained bitterly. 'The only saving grace is that the armies of the other System Lords have suffered far more than ourselves due to their inferior ships' he said.

'What of Anubis? Nerus asked.

'His numbers grow, and his advanced Hat'ak vessels minimise his losses, but as yet he is still only capable of fielding a relatively small fleet' Baal replied. 'I wish we could obtain one of his ships' he continued, 'his shields and sensors are better than the ones he provided to me to earn my favour.'

'Our research into more advanced gravity generators and improved weapons here may give us an advantage yet' Nerus suggested. 'Beyond their usefulness as amusing means of torture and prison cells our compact artificial gravity units are a technology seemingly unknown to all other Goa'uld' he said. 'Certainly in implementation if not scientific principle' he said.

'See that the research remains a secret' Baal commanded. 'The other System Lords do not know of this place, they would be threatened to know the resources I have devoted towards scientific research' he noted then sipped his wine. 'I have heard a rumour that Thoth has returned to the service of Anubis' he told Nerus after savouring the taste 'Your old rival I believe?' he asked rhetorically.

Nerus frowned. Thoth was a very able scientist who would likely be able to achieve much with the technology and resources Anubis had returned with. 'We competed for the reputation as the most able of Goa'uld scientists a few centuries back' he said. 'I couldn't see why anyone might think his inventions could possibly match my own but for some reason the scientifically illiterate thought they did' he said dismissively then paused and sighed. 'He would however be able to back-engineer the new hyperdrive of Apophis as well as I' he admitted.

'Let's make sure we get there first Nerus' Baal told him. 'Lives may depend upon it, yours in particular' he threatened.

'Have no fear, Nerus is here' the other Goa'uld declared confidently.

Baal looked him up and down. 'Next time I'm here I expect to see more results or I'm putting you on an exercise program and a severe diet' he said.

Nerus paled. 'Couldn't you just have some Jaffa torture me with a Pain Stick?' he begged.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_The Type 1 Alien Fighter (called a Wraith in the game or a Foo-Fighter here) was seen in **X-COM: Interceptor** which was set in the 2060's. X-COM might have been able to back-engineer it pretty quickly then but I can't see even the R&D wizards of X-COM figuring it out nearly as fast in this story which is set over half a century earlier. The Type 1 had a different Drive, Shield, Hull Design, Sensors and Weaponry than the ships X-COM had seen before and was apparently very stealthy given how close you needed to be to get a missile lock, it's way beyond the craft encountered previously. I think 12-gauge miniguns would be a pretty effective way to stop Replicators coming through the gate by the way!_

_And continuing my Wizard of Oz theme we again return to the planet where SG-1 was copied by Harlan the android... episode 1:19 **Tin Man**. Reese the android that made the first Replicators was encountered in episode 5:19 __Menace__ which played out in a similar fashion until the point where in this universe Daniel offered a viable alternative to O'Neill shooting her. She was childlike and frightened because she thought that people hated her because she was different, she liked Daniel so I thought an actual android Daniel would be an interesting solution to the Reese problem. She didn't really deserve to die, her "Father" was far more to blame for the trouble she caused. Hubald was the scientist and engineer that originally designed much of the technology in the facility, Harlan only ever maintained it. He knows androids pretty well (he made the copies of SG-1 after all) but lots of the other technology was apparently beyond him._

_Baals fortress/research base was featured in episode 6:06 __Abyss__. He was carrying out research into some very nifty artificial gravity technology and new weapons there according to the show. Having his top Goa'uld Geek sent there to head up the R&D being done into both those projects and the new gear Apophis and Anubis had bought to the game seemed reasonable. __Thoth__ was the Goa'uld scientist that worked for Anubis on Tartarus his own research base where the Kull Warriors were developed (in mythology Thoth was the Egyptian God of Magic and Science). Having Thoth and Nerus be professional rivals is just something I thought was a nice idea, Goa'uld scientists doing original work were a rariety so I could see them having a competive relationship.  
_


	22. Chapter 22

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Sentinel Chamber – P2A-018 (Latona) – March 2002**

Jack O'Neill checked his watch again. 'Grieves if you don't pick up the pace I'm going to get the Sergeant outside to come in here and stick her stun rod up your ass' he told the former Colonel and NID man who along with his partner in crime Kershaw was trying to getting the Latonan Sentinel device operational again. Major Carter was watching them work while Daniel, after earlier helping Kershaw lower the chamber forcefield, was now trying to decipher the text on the device, jotting notes onto a pocket notepad and occasionally muttering to himself.

'That's not likely to speed things up' Grieves replied evenly as he continued to work on the machine which had kept the planet free of the Goa'uld for centuries until he and his team of NID agents had interfered with it. He and Kershaw had been on Death Row for treason and this mission was a chance not only to redeem themselves for their actions but avoid execution which was already fairly motivating to start with.

'I'm not seeing much progress either way and it would lighten my mood' O'Neill responded. 'This planet is full of Jaffa, we've got the best part of a battalion's worth heading our way, and even if we had the manpower to stop them that Goa'uld mothership in orbit would level the entire region rather than accept defeat gracefully' he stated. 'I had to fight my way back here with Major Benton and the rest of SG-9 after seeing Marul, if it wasn't for the armour and their marksmanship SG-1 would have a new CO' he said.

'So close' Carter said in mock bitterness, 'no offence Sir' she continued, you know I'm just waiting on you to retire' she said trying to keep a straight face.

'Counting down the days to the top job Major?' O'Neill asked wryly.

'Got to get yours before I start thinking about taking over from General Hammond Sir' Carter replied deadpan.

'He makes less than _we_ do' O'Neill pointed out. Say what you like about X-COM, they expected you to risk your life for your planet but at least they paid you a decent wage for it.

'But he's got the biggest office and a better desk than yours' Carter replied.

'I have a desk?' O'Neill asked in confusion before shaking his head and turning to Kershaw. 'We're not paying you by the hour, you're earning extra years by being here not overtime' he told her.

'The last time we did this it took 48 hours to get past the forcefield and another week and a half to dismantle, examine and reassemble the Sentinel Device Colonel' Kershaw replied. 'There's a limit to how much time you can shave off something like this' she told him.

'Don't think the stun-rod thing only applied to Grieves' O'Neill responded evenly. 'Carter can you speed things up?' he asked her. 'You've got a knack with the alien doohickeys' he noted, waving his hand around at the equipment.

'This is a whole new technology to me Sir' Carter admitted. 'I don't think I could do any better than these two' she said. 'Probably worse because at least they've done it before' she added.

'And they did it _wrong_' O'Neill pointed out.

'I still don't think we did' Kershaw whispered to Grieves. She couldn't think how but she wondered if that caretaker guy they killed the last time they were here had something to do with the Sentinel not working somehow.

Grieves looked at her, eyes narrowed telling her to keep her mouth shut. 'This would be easier if the Latonans hadn't decided to regress a few hundred years' he said loudly.

'Yeah you could have beaten it out of them how their ancestors made it when you first came here right?' O'Neill retorted. 'Quicker than sneaking in here and you wouldn't have ended up screwing the damn machine up' he added.

'We were doing our duty' Grieves replied, 'what we thought was best for Earth' he said. 'From what I hear the way we operated isn't so much different from the way you do things these days anyhow' he declared.

'We take technology as spoils of war from the enemy' O'Neill told him. 'We don't go around stealing from allies or poor innocent schmucks like the locals' he said.

'It's a question of degree Colonel' Grieves replied, 'we were just more willing to step further over the line' he said.

'You went so far over the line you couldn't even see it from where you ended up Grieves' O'Neill responded harshly. 'I'm going outside for some fresh air' he said. 'Carter if these two try anything zat them' he told his second-in-command before heading outside.

Outside the concealed entrance to the chamber Teal'c, Andianov and SG-9 had dug in as best they could and were now waiting to meet the Jaffa onslaught. SG-3 had already reluctantly retreated through the stargate as ordered and there was little chance of rescue from that direction. A handful of fully armed and armoured SG Teams with armoured support from armed MALP's would pulverise a few hundred Jaffa but the Goa'uld Svarog had a Hat'ak in orbit and they couldn't do anything to counter that kind of fire-support. They either got the Sentinel working soon or they were going to have to make the decision whether or not to abandon the Latonans to their fate and try to fight their way back to the stargate which could be more than tricky by this point.

'We've rigged claymores to cover the approaches Sir' Major Benton reported to O'Neill when he appeared, Benton and the rest of SG-9 had been on Latona for some time trying to negotiate access to the Sentinel before Svarog, a System Lord who had not become heavily embroiled in the war against Apophis, discovered that the planet was now open for conquest.

'Okay I want you all to keep your heads down and your eyes open' O'Neill told them. 'We hold them off as long as we can then I'll make the call whether or not to pull back into the chamber and put the forcefield back on or make a run for it' he said.

'I'd rather fight than run Sir' Sergeant Grogan of SG-9 responded, 'we're the only chance the Latonans have and like it or not it was two of our people that got them into this mess' he said.

'Grieves _isn't_ one of _our_ people Sergeant' O'Neill told him. 'We're just cleaning up someone else's mess' he said moving to take up a position lying behind a log next to Teal'c and getting his L2A2 ready. 'Good field of fire' he observed.

'We should be able to hold the enemy for some time O'Neill' Teal'c agreed.

'Hopefully they'll want to capture the gadget inside intact so they won't just blast our sorry asses from orbit' O'Neill replied.

'The Goa'uld scavenge alien technology as a matter of routine, all their machines may be nothing but copies or poor imitations of the inventions of other races which they claimed credit for' Teal'c said. 'It is unlikely the Svarog would risk destroying a weapon with the potential of the Sentinel without first expending many warriors in an attempt to seize it' he observed.

'Jaffa are cheap I guess' O'Neill replied.

'The Goa'uld have always thought of us thus' Teal'c said coldly as he prepared to kill more of his brothers who were going to throw away their lives in service of a false god.

'Andianov, you good over there?' O'Neill asked, looking across to the Russian Sergeant who was positioned to provide a crossfire along with Tarkman from SG-9.

'All things considered Colonel I would rather be back in Moscow, and do you know how cold it is in Moscow this time of year?' Andianov responded. 'We only drink vodka because it's the closest thing to antifreeze that won't kill you' she confided to Tarkman.

'I thought you X-COM people enjoyed a good firefight Sergeant' Major Benton called from his own position. His armour was already blackened and scorched from a Staff-Weapon blast when the enemy had first arrived, as was Winters the other member of SG-9 with him.

'The shooting at them is fun, it is them shooting back which I have never learned to enjoy quite as much' Andianov replied, then paused. 'I have known other X-COM Troops who seemed to greatly like that part too' she admitted, 'the crazy, adrenaline addicted maniacs.'

The sound of Jaffa horns nearby had them tighten their grips on their rifles. The enemies strange mix of advanced weaponry such as zat'nik'tels, staff-cannons and shock grenades along with primitive signalling devices such as horns and the feeble protection offered by medieval chain-mail armour was still something of a wonder to O'Neill even after all these years. The goa'uld could make far more effective infantry equipment, a battalion of Jaffa with plasma rifles with decent ergonomics, plus the body armour and other personal gear the bounty hunter Aris Boch had used would make them a far more fearsome opponent but as it was the System Lords still preferred to throw their slave armies away in waves against the superior weaponry and tactical doctrine of the Tau'ri. It was stupid and wasteful as much as it was immoral butchery of their own followers to O'Neill's mind, but he was only grateful that the Goa'uld were so inclined, because if the System Lords ever started to use their technology efficiently, and to its full potential, then Earth would be in trouble. 'Fire at will' he ordered as the first Jaffa appeared in sight, some distance away, the words barely finished when a laser neatly speared the Jaffa in the centre of his chest, dropping him instantly. 'That's just showing off Sergeant' he stated, knowing full well who it would have been. 'Save some for the rest of us okay' he added.

'I have no choice Sir' Andianov replied, 'my rifle powerpack will be depleted before the Jaffa run out' she noted with a half smile.

'Shit, you can use mine' Tarkman told her, semi-seriously.

Another blast of the horn saw a mass of Jaffa surge towards them through the trees. Others put down wildly inaccurate long-range support fire with their staffs, the plasma bolts smashing into trees and only a small number even getting close enough to warrant ducking.

The Tau'ri soldiers opened up with their L2-A2 Laser Rifles, aiming carefully at first to drop the apparent officer and NCO equivalents who were yelling orders to the other Jaffa then switching to snap shots then automatic fire as the enemy closed. 'I wish we had a few rotary-staffs' Sergeant Grogan said as he shot down another Jaffa. 'We'd slaughter them' he continued.

'Then the Hat'ak up there would blow us to kingdom come' Major Benton pointed out.

'Hell of a situation to be in where you don't dare win even if you could' O'Neill growled, firing repeatedly at the enemy, some of who had now gone to ground close enough to fire more accurately and effectively at the Tau'ri, trying to pin them so another rush would reach them.

Teal'c switched his rifle over so it was firing a continual stream of both laser fire and zat discharges, putting the importance of weight of fire over accuracy as he hosed it left and right. 'I am becoming concerned O'Neill he told the human next to him impassively.

'You and me both' O'Neill replied. 'Hit the claymores' he bellowed as another wave of Jaffa came at them.

Major Benton, snatched up the remote detonator, armed it by flipping up the safety and squeezed the trigger. The anti-personal charges exploded like huge shotgun blasts, supersonic steel ball-bearings shredding the Jaffa ranks and shattering their attack.

The normally quite placid Sergeant Grogan began hollering a primitive battle cry as something burned far deeper in his psyche than military training took over, fight or die. Like Teal'c he began to spray fire at the opposition, his style far removed from the almost mechanical precision of Andianov who simply gunned down one Jaffa after another with clinical lack of feeling on the matter.

Jaffa warriors fell by the dozen but hundreds more waited to take their place, eventually one had to get lucky with his staff weapon and a bolt of plasma took Winter's head off, his blood, brains and pieces of his skull showering Major Benton who did his best to ignore it as he gritted his teeth and kept fighting.

'Carter get your ass out here' O'Neill yelled. With one less Tau'ri gun in action the vast numerical superiority the Jaffa enjoyed was now even more of a factor.

Major Carter leaned out of the concealed entrance to the chamber and began firing from there. Daniel thought he had got something with translating the text and she hoped it would help because an minute now they were going to be forced to retreat into the chamber and raise the forcefield, trapping themselves.

'Staff-Cannon' Tarkman yelled, ducking as a huge bolt of plasma crashed into the ground right next to him, throwing dirt up in all directions.

'Got it' Andianov responded, drawing a bead on the Jaffa operating the weapon and taking him out. Another took his place and got the same treatment, if she was using a Heavy Plasma Rifle she could have blown the thing apart but her laser lacked the required firepower so she had to deal with the crew instead. 'Shit' she swore as she saw another cannon being set up. A single well-placed shot from one of those things could smash any of their positions. She began switching targets engaging the Jaffa trying to operate both cannons but that meant she couldn't help deal with the infantry. It was all starting to get very uncomfortable as far as she was concerned.

'We die well O'Neill' Teal'c stated with certainty. They were fighting to protect a people who could not defend themselves, even if they were unsuccessful he was certain of the rightness of their cause and glad he was going to lose his life in such a fashion, it was honourable and he died free.

'We ain't dead yet Teal'c' O'Neill responded, 'And I'm taking a lot more than this many with me when I go' he declared, wishing he had brought along one of the X-COM naqudah-enhanced elerium grenades, _that_ was the way to go out in style, he decided, in a huge flash of light. 'What the hell...' he exclaimed as a bright flash of white light washed past him from behind.

'The Sentinel' Teal'c said in awe as the Jaffa touched by the light simply vanished, the effect reminding him of the Asgard using their transport beams as weapons. The light swept on towards the city taking the enemy with it.

'Way to go Grieves!' O'Neill yelled, he might be a rat-bastard but if he'd just saved their asses he had gone way up in O'Neill's estimation, that sort of thing earns a reappraisal.

'Grieves is gone' Daniel said, emerging from the chamber entrance with Kershaw who looked downcast at the loss of her former commanding officer. 'The Sentinel needed a human component to work, Grieves killed the last one when he was here before so he took his place when I figured out the text' he said. 'When he activated the machine it destroyed him, self-sacrifice might be part of the process' he noted.

O'Neill stood up. 'Regained your honour Grieves' he said, looking towards the city, 'way to go' he repeated quietly, turning to see Major Benton looking down at Winter's remains, shaking his head sadly before making his way over to the commander of SG-9, it was hard to lose a man under your command, you only hoped it never got easy like it seemed to have done for some of the X-COM Officers.

'My Colonel's dead and now I go back to prison' Kershaw said, letting out a long sigh. 'I might have been better off getting killed' she said, kicking out at a stray stone that bounced away.

'You're good, with the alien technology I mean' Carter said. 'Maybe they could find a better place for you than a cell' she suggested. 'Hell they put _Nirrti_ to work' she added bitterly.

Kershaw blinked. 'I'll do _anything_ to stay out of that cell' she responded hopefully.

'I'll talk to General Hammond and Commander Sharp' Carter replied, it was a waste having her in a cell instead of doing something useful, the NID had recruited highly skilled people for their short-lived off-world team.

Unfortunately Marul, head of the Latonan government refused them permission to work on the Sentinel device any more and they had to return to Earth without knowledge of how the weapon worked, Grieves had cleaned up his own mess but Winter's had died too all for nothing in the end. Major Benton only wished he could tell the mans family how he really died.

**Omega Site – PX0-999 – April 2002**

Commander Russell Sharp stepped out through the stargate and found himself standing in the middle of a small camp built along the lines of the Alpha Site. They were near a fast flowing river in a grassy valley between two mountains, part of what he knew from reports was a range that crossed the planets single continent from north to south like a spine. It all looked very picturesque and for some reason like much of the galaxy reminded him greatly of his home Canada.

Although clearly terraformed at some point in the past the planet had not been part of the stargate network which was why it was chosen, after the Asgard helpfully provided a list of locations they thought suitable for the main Tau'ri offworld base. The gate the world now possessed was of Tollan design and manufacture and had been placed here by one of their new "Ghostrider" warships, or "Defence Vessels" as the Tollan preferred to call them, in readiness for the Earth humans to establish their facility. Unlike the ubiquitous Ancient-built stargates that filled the galaxy it was slimmer in form and in some ways rather more advanced, with all the functions of a DHD including power source built into the gate itself which was dialled by remote unit.

'Welcome to PX0-999 Sir' Colonel Edwards who was in charge of the suvey and engineering team building the base greeted him with a salute which Sharp returned. 'Some of us call it Terra Nova' he added.

'New Earth, not a bad name' Sharp replied. 'Stargate still not underground yet?' he queried. At least there was plenty of hardware and troops set up to defend the gate, several weapons of differing types had been aimed at him when he stepped through, so the Omega Site was secure but the plan was to have the whole facility deep underground.

'Still excavating that part of the complex' Edwards explained. 'Even with the crystals we got from the Tok'ra speeding things up with the access and ventilation shafts we're still digging out a base that makes Cheyenne Mountain look like a pothole' he said. 'Eventually the gate is going to be in a granite chamber about a mile and a half under where we're standing but we want to get all the other facilities in place first like the base defences' he continued. 'The missile silos are finished and we're just waiting on the Russians to deliver the SA-21 prototypes with the naquadah nuke warheads.'

'What about the rest?' Sharp asked.

'The PAC-3 Patriots are in place and the VLS batteries with the SM-3's are nearly operational, they just yanked them from a pair of Aegis Destroyers they docked in Gdańsk and sent them through as sections via the gate in Poland' Edwards replied.

Sharp smiled and nodded. 'Laser Cannons?' he queried, looking around trying to see if he could spot any of the concealed emplacements intended to house them.

'Just need the naquadah reactors to run them now' Colonel Edwards told him, 'if you'd like to follow me to the rings I can take you underground to show you what we've done so far' he said.

'Lead on Colonel' Sharp told him.

'We were hoping to get Plasma Beam defences' Edwards told Sharp as they headed for a circle marked nearby with a few white painted stones. 'Something to really put the hurt on a Ha'tak if it got too close' he said.

'We don't have elerium coming out of our ears like we do weapons-grade naquadah' Sharp replied regretfully. 'Base defence Lasers would take out Deathgliders or Al'kesh by the bucketload at least' he said. 'They say they'll be able to make copies of the main guns on a Ha'tak eventually, so we'll probably shift to them as the main base-defence armament when we can' he said as they stepped into the ring platform, Edwards activating it by remote control.

The rings transported them down into a crystalline tunnel which sloped off downwards, the complex being too far down for rings to operate all the way through that much rock. The original access tunnel which had got them down this far to install the rings, the sections brought to the Omega site through the stargate, had already been sealed. 'This place can't collapse can it?' Sharp asked, reaching out and touching the walls, they were warm, probably because of the depth.

'The tunnel walls are damn tough despite how fast they're grown' Edwards told him. 'The local geology is stable so we don't have to worry about earthquakes' he continued, 'or nuclear strikes with yields less than a few hundred megatons' he added with a chuckle. 'It gets damn hot down here like a deep mine but we've got good aircon' he said, 'concealed ventilation shafts run up into the mountains miles away' he said, walking down the fairly steep sloping path. 'It would hit over a hundred and twenty Fahrenheit without the cooling, we consulted the mining engineers who run the deep gold mines in South Africa to see how they coped with the problem.'

'The tunnel network connects all the outlying bunkers to the main base?' Sharp checked.

'All the aircraft hangers, missile batteries everything' Colonel Edwards confirmed. 'They can all be isolated if the enemy gain access to them from the surface' he noted, 'steel doors, demolition charges or just use another crystal to seal the whole tunnel' he said. 'Sorry we have to walk' he apologised, 'we've got track laid throughout the base but the areas where we're digging and need to move rock or heavy machinery take priority on the engines' he said, indicating the steel rail tracks on the ground.

'No problem, the exercise is good for me, I've been spending too much time out of the field lately' Sharp replied. 'We'll be relocating a lot of troops, equipment and manufacturing facilities here as soon as we can' Sharp told him. 'Getting this base finished is high priority' he said.

'Good thing I thrive under pressure Sir' Edwards replied.

'Yeah, especially given the freaking air pressure down here Colonel' Sharp responded. Damn they were getting deep he thought as they continued on, occasionally passing an engineer or technician heading the other way. Suddenly the tunnel seemed to shake for a couple of seconds and a loud rumble echoed down the tunnel causing Sharp to raise his eyebrows. 'Geologically stable?' he asked suspiciously.

Edwards laughed. 'That was one of the teams excavating the main chamber' he explained. 'The Tok'ra crystals have limits so we use old-fashioned blasting methods for some of the work' he told the Commander. 'I say "old fashioned" but that was a potassium/naquadah device' he continued, 'yield of a decent sized fission nuke but it doesn't leave a lot of long-lasting fallout behind' he said. 'Beats the shit out of dynamite and jackhammers I'll tell you' he added with another laugh.

'What are you going to do after you finish this place?' Sharp asked.

'Everything else will be a comedown Sir but we've still got to survey the rest of the planet in detail for mines' Edwards replied. 'There's not much if any naquadah on this rock from what we can tell but there's definitely trinium as well as rare earths, which aren't so rare here, and a crap load of pitchblende' he said, 'uranium ore I mean' he explained. 'If this place was on the stargate network before now I'll bet the Goa'uld would have filled this place with slaves swinging pickaxes' he said.

'No Goa'uld but have you found _gold_?' Sharp joked.

'Yes' Edwards replied seriously, 'but it's the platinum and silver for electrical contacts and circuits we're more interested in' he continued. 'It's not like we can ship too much of it back to Earth to sell, we'd crash the market price of the stuff if we did' he noted with a shrug.

'Damn, there goes my idea for bolstering the operating budget' Sharp replied. 'And my retirement fund' he added with a chuckle. 'What we really need to find somewhere is a mountain of elerium' he said with a frown.

'I thought that was an artificial allotrope, not a naturally occurring one?' Edwards asked as they continued on down the sloping tunnel.

'So the Asgard and Tollan say and our people agree unfortunately' Sharp confirmed. 'It's pretty clever of Loki when you get right down to it' he said. 'Any other advanced technology you use against the Replicators they can capture, analyse and use back at you but Loki's stuff is useless to them because as soon as the elerium in the captured equipment is used up the Replicators can't make his engines or weapons work any more' he said. 'Loki has a monopoly on elerium production, as far as we can tell, so he can continue making more and more advanced weapons, ships and shields based upon it and the little lego bastards are stumped' he continued. 'If I was Loki I'd be waiting for the rest of the Asgard to be right at the edge of defeat and then ride to the rescue when they're in no position to turn down his offer.'

'Saviour of his entire race' Edwards responded with a snort. 'While he screws ours' he added with a growl.

Sharp nodded, to be fair to Loki he himself would be perfectly willing to screw over the Asgard to save humanity but he knew he was a ruthless bastard and didn't particularly consider himself a shining example of the best his species had to offer on the ethical or morality front. 'I am getting the biggest office and the best quarters in this place right?' he asked, changing the subject.

'Right' Edwards confirmed.

'I still think we should have gone for the hollowed out volcano surrounded by liquid hot magma' Sharp declared.

'You were told that given budgetary constraints it was either that or the F-302's with the frickin laser beams Sir' Edwards replied deadpan, playing along as was good policy when your CO makes a joke, or attempts one.

'I've got to start kissing up to the IOC more to get a budget increase' Sharp said thoughtfully, or maybe threatening Kinsey would work he thought. Cassandra could probably pull something suitably criminal and persuasive out of his mind that would guarantee support, there was no way that shifty fucker wasn't involved in some truly jail, or even firing-squad, worthy activities he decided.

**Marduk's Ziggurat – P2X-338 – April 2002**

'Okay I admit it' Daniel conceded, 'I did scream like a little girl when that thing jumped out of the sarcophagus at me' he said. 'Even Teal'c jumped' he added defensively, 'damn thing moved like greased lightning' he stated.

O'Neill grinned. 'The expression on your face when it bounced off your armour and then tore off towards the door with Andianov shooting at it' he said, 'never seen her miss like that before' he noted.

'See, _everyone_ was shaken' Daniel declared.

Carter finished checking the remains in the sarcophagus. 'Like I thought, Marduk jumped ship into the... whatever it was' she said with a frown. 'I knew I felt a Goa'uld inside it when it went past me heading for the way out' she said.

O'Neill frowned. 'We'll have to track it down' he said. 'Teal'c, you and the Sergeant find the little bastard and waste it' he ordered.

'Yes Sir' Andianov replied, she was still feeling guilty about missing the creature earlier and was highly motivated in the extreme to make amends. 'My motion tracker should be effective as long as it keeps moving trying to evade us' she suggested.

'Use the zat on your rifle only, no blowing holes in walls with lasers' O'Neill told them. 'You could collapse the whole damn pyra... ziggurat on us' he pointed out.

'Yes O'Neill' Teal'c agreed, as Andianov retrieved her motion tracker and switched it on. 'I will lead Sergeant' he said, heading out of the chamber with the Russian following on behind, eyes flicking between the screen of the motion scanner and their environment.

'This Marduk fellah must have been quite an asshole for his own priests to seal him in the sarcophagus here with that thing to snack on him' O'Neill observed, looking at the remains.

'Certainly not too popular' Daniel agreed, continuing to read the Babylonian cuneiform inscriptions around the room. 'The sarcophagus would have kept healing him to prolong the agony' he noted.

'Not how I'd want to go' O'Neill stated with a shudder.

'I just wish the Russians had told us about the gate coordinates their archaeologist found in Iraq earlier' Carter said. 'We'll have to find a way to get this sarcophagus out of here, maybe have one at the Omega Site' she suggested, they already had one on Earth.

'I'm sure if he had his way Doctor Britski would have made his discovery public two and a half years ago when he found the stone tablets' Daniel responded. 'The Russian government recognised the symbols from the DHD they sold to X-COM and kept the tablets secret until they saw a way to profit from them.'

O'Neill muttered something darkly about unreformed commies to himself before raising his voice. 'I'm not happy about that Colonel Chekov getting offered command of the Omega Site' he opined.

'He's still technically junior to Commander Sharp Sir' Carter noted.

'That wouldn't be too great a thing even if it counted for much' O'Neill replied. 'Sharp's not a desk jockey, he'll leave Chekov to run the Omega Site like he mostly leaves Hammond alone to run the SGC' he said. 'It's like they're rewarding the damn Russians for keeping something quiet until they could get paid for the information.'

Carter held up the large circular crystal set into a gold disk they had found in the sarcophagus. 'The Eye of Tiamat is supposed to be an extremely powerful piece of technology Sir' she said.

'Possibly an energy weapon of Ancient design' Daniel suggested, he knew Jack was always a sucker for a big honking space gun.

'It could just be a piece of gaudy jewellery for all we know' O'Neill responded. 'Reminds me of something I might have worn in the seventies with an open shirt and flares' he said.

Daniel grimaced. 'Not a mental image I wanted' he said.

Elsewhere in the sarcophagus Andianov and Teal'c were still hunting the alien creature possessed by Marduk. 'It might be laying in ambush' Teal'c suggested. 'I cannot be taken as a host so you are in more danger than I' he told the Russian.

'If it appears again I will be expecting it and won't miss this time' Andianov replied.

'This structure is labyrinthine' Teal'c noted. 'If it remains stationary we could hunt it for many days unsuccessfully.'

Andianov nodded sadly then looking up from her motion scanner to Teal'c smiled evilly. 'Poison gas' she suggested. 'We return to Earth, collect the gas and pump the whole ziggurat full of lethal nerve agents' she said.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. 'An excellent idea' he agreed.

'There are non-persistent agents that would dissipate within hours' Andianov told him. 'The structure would be undamaged, and once the ziggurat was cleansed of the alien threat engineering teams could shore up the walls and ceiling so Doctor Jackson undertake a proper investigation of the ziggurat' she said.

'Shooting it would be more... satisfying' Teal'c observed.

'I'll settle for it being dead' Andianov replied evenly.

SG-1 used the rings Daniel found in the ziggurat to escape the building, but limited by his host Marduk was unable to do likewise and could not open the stone doors which sealed him inside either. When he heard the rings activate again many hours later he scurried to the site hoping to ambush a human, intending to take them as a far more suitable host, instead he found himself looking a strange cylindrical device marked with symbols he could not understand and which was venting some kind of...

The VX Nerve gas having done its job SG-1, returning in full NBC Gear, found Marduk and his extremely undignified last host dead on the floor by the rings. Other personal unsealed the ziggurat and flushed it out with clean air before they started systematically searching the building, putting in reinforcing beams where needed. Marduks's hand device was found two weeks later along with other Goa'uld technology in a concealed compartment in a wall. Unlike the ones already in their possession it was the more advanced type with a personal force-field which had many Tau'ri scientists clamouring for the opportunity to try and unlock its secret.

The Eye of Tiamat itself however remained a mystery for some time, Anubis was very annoyed when he came looking for it and found the ziggurat empty except for the obvious signs of Tau'ri presence such as signs and insignia marked with that stupid X logo they left all over the galaxy.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The first section is just the XSGCOM version of episode 5:20 __The Sentinel__. In the show Grogan was the only member of __SG-9__ to survive the first Jaffa attack but with the better weapons and armour they have in this universe I had the whole team surviving to meet up with SG-1 when they arrived. Like the Asgard transporter beams being used as weapons we don't know where the Sentinel actually puts the invading Jaffa it vanishes, I'd beam them into space as their component atoms personally but who knows!_

_Hope you like the Omega site even if it's only still under construction. __Colonel Edwards__ was the surveyor and mining engineer in episode 7:07 __Enemy Mine__._

_At the end we have episode 5:08 __The Tomb__ with an XSGCOM Twist. Still got the Russian element in there of course! Anubis later had the __Eye of Tiamat__ which had been buried along with the sarcophagus and the hand device so he must have gone to P2X-338 and dug it up._

_Not a lot of reviews for the last chapter, hope it wasn't a disappointment? _


	23. Chapter 23

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – April 2002**

'A base' Colonel O'Neill repeated incredulously, 'how the hell could they set up a _base_?' he asked. 'I mean right here on freaking _Earth_' he exclaimed.

Major Davis delivering the briefing looked around the room, the rest of SG-1 looked just as shocked as O'Neill albeit less vocally. Commander Sharp looked like he was going to snap the pen in his hand any second and even the usually calm and collected General Hammond appeared shaken by the revelation. 'Long term analysis of Sectoid activity in the area indicates it was likely constructed last June' he said. 'If you'd recall our circumstances at the time the enemy had recently introduced the Foo Fighter, and we had yet to field the F-302X, so Interception losses were very high' he continued, 'the decision was taken to only engage the hostiles if they were heading for highly populated areas so alien craft operating over much of the Earth's surface were ignored' he explained. 'It was noted that several enemy craft seemed to be scouting and occasionally setting down in a remote area in the Amazon basin...'

'But the decision was taken that if Loki wanted to abduct a few primitive tribesmen then they were acceptable losses' Daniel interrupted angrily.

'If you can only protect so much territory you prioritise' Commander Sharp stated. 'Better a few dozen people get screwed than lose military assets needed to protect countless more' he said dispassionately. Sharp had been offworld for a couple of weeks, first at the Omega Site and then went straight from there to join a join XSGCOM and Free Jaffa raid on a world Apophis was using as a staging area, it had been a great deal of fun but he felt more out of the loop than normal.

Daniel rounded on him. 'It's not whether it's right or wrong, it's how easily people like you make the call' he said. 'No agonising about it and no remorse for the poor bastards in the loin clothes who end up on a surgical experimentation table because we were husbanding our hardware' he declared.

'I try and save as many people as I can, and getting wrapped up in the ones I've already lost doesn't help me do it so I don't' Sharp replied flatly then threw O'Neill a look that told him to get his teams humanitarianly-minded civilian in line. 'What do we know about the base Major?' he asked Davis, getting things back on track.

Davis checked his notes, he had been assigned the job as liaison between X-COM, the Pentagon and the SGC and as part of that read so many files it was sometimes hard to keep track. 'They seem to have been keeping a low profile' he said. 'After establishing the base out in the boonies they apparently stopped sending their larger ships there, presumably so we wouldn't get suspicious' he continued, 'it was only when we started getting a cluster of UFO sightings in the area we started to wonder if something was up and then three days ago one of our Hyperwave Decoders detected a transmission from a previously unknown type of Sectoid Vessel on what translated to be a "supply mission" to the area.'

'Must have run out of something' O'Neill suggested then frowned. 'Hey why were people sighting UFO's if they stopped sending ships there until recently?' he asked.

'They were using fighters and Foo Fighters don't show up on radar and also don't seem to use the same hyperwave transponder technology as the older ships' Major Davis replied.

Carter nodded. 'Initial examination of the Foo Fighter we captured indicated a refinement of hyperwave communications technology which we think is closer in capability to the subspace communications the Asgard use' she said. 'Think of it as one being AM and the other FM' she added for the benefit of Colonel O'Neill.

'The fighters are too small for abduction missions, but they're okay for reconnaissance and it does appear that the aliens are scouting for something, sending up fighters at night from their jungle base up towards Central America' Major Davis told the group.

'No idea what they're after I'm guessing?' General Hammond queried.

'I'm afraid not sir' Davis replied apologetically.

'This is a hell of an opportunity if we can take the base intact' Sharp declared.

'Yes Sir, that's the general opinion amongst all concerned, and a plan to land several teams of X-COM Troops is on the cards, but there's a school of thought it could be a tactical mistake and we want to try something else first' Davis told them.

'How so?' O'Neill queried.

Major Davis leaned forward in his chair. 'It's thought possible that there might be a higher ranking enemy officer within the base than we've encountered previously' he said. 'Loki pre-programs his cloned troops with only as much information as is required to do their job, so we don't gain as much intel from prisoners as we might hope' he continued. 'We've captured the equivalent of Lieutenants and Captains in rank on occasion but we really need to score someone higher up the chain hoping that he might know more.'

'And you think a Base Commander is what we've been looking for?' Hammond asked.

'Stands to reason that Loki would give the guy running an independent command more brains than he'd bother giving the cannon-fodder' Commander Sharp opined reasonably.

'To capture and interrogate such an alien would be valuable indeed' Teal'c observed. 'It would be equivalent to seizing a First Prime rather than an ordinary Jaffa Warrior.'

O'Neill tapped the table. 'We need to get a Special Forces Team in there to turn the tables on them and abduct the bastard' he said. 'Infiltrate the base quietly and haul his little grey ass out of there in chains' he declared.

'Good plan let down by the fact that you can't sneak into a base where at least some of the guys defending the place are likely to be telepathic' Sharp pointed out.

'That's why I've come here to the SGC' Major Davis told them. 'We think we know a way to do it but we need SG-1' he said.

'Ready to save the world again' O'Neill declared proudly.

'Not you Colonel' Major Davis told him. 'We need you to look after P3X-989 while X-COM borrows the _other_ SG-1' he said.

'Our android doubles on Altair?' Daniel responded, then his eyes widened. 'They're machines, no brainwaves' he realised.

'Functionally immune to either psionic attack or detection' Major Davis concurred. 'Loki's troops should be taken completely by surprise' he said. 'From what we know of their capabilities your android doubles are stronger, faster and have quicker reactions than you as well' he added.

'Yeah well, that _might_ be true' O'Neill conceded. In fact he knew the androids were considerably superior in many ways to the original humans they were copied from. 'I still don't think four of them could get the job done though Sir' he added.

'We could throw in a couple of Mighty MALPs as fire-support' Carter suggested.

Andianov closed her eyes to think something through quietly to herself then opened them. 'I will permit the android Harlan to make a copy of me if necessary to add to the team' she said quietly.

'I'd reconsider that offer before someone takes you up on it Sergeant' O'Neill counselled her.

'The androids have not faced Loki's forces in battle and are not familiar with many of the weapons and tactics used to fight them effectively Sir' Andianov replied. 'They would benefit from my knowledge as well as having another rifle in action' she said.

'They'll be another you out there Sergeant, I suggest you give it some serious thought before committing to that' General Hammond told the Russian.

'The sacrifice of a little of my own uniqueness matters less than the contribution my android duplicate could make to this proposed mission and others' Andianov replied evenly.

'This is assuming the duplicates go for it' Major Davis pointed out.

Colonel O'Neill chuckled. 'We've got a pretty good idea on that' he said.

'They'll go for it' Carter stated confidently.

'I guess in the circumstances you should be the ones to contact them' General Hammond reasoned, looking to SG-1.

'I'd expect it to be me that asked me, if the roles were reversed and I was him and he was me' O'Neill agreed then frowned. 'Did that make any sense?' he asked after a pause.

'It did until I gave it more thought' Daniel replied with a shrug.

**High Orbit – KS7-535 – April 2002**

The world below them was a frozen wasteland with temperatures so low that the ice was a mix of water and carbon dioxide. It hadn't always been so, which is why the Ancients had placed a stargate there millennia ago, but these days you would likely freeze to death in seconds if you were foolish enough to venture out on its surface. Logically it wasn't really worth fighting over, indeed in ordinary circumstances System Lords would be more likely to try and palm the place off on one another as a useless possession, but these were not ordinary circumstances. The world was strategically positioned along the line of advance Anubis was taking towards Delmak and there was no way that Apophis was going to let the returned, some whispered resurrected, System lord have it without a hard fight.

Fifteen Ha'tak vessels belonging to Apophis, mostly the older type but six were the new much faster and generally more capable versions now being produced by his shipyards, were clashing with nine Anubis Ha'tak's, the superior shielding and harder hitting weaponry of the latter making it a reasonably even match as they battered away at each other with huge bolts of plasma. Ongoing numerical superiority, and the new ships that closed some of the technological gap, had allowed Apophis to hold back Anubis as no other System Lord would have been able given the frightening advances he had made, but the war was becoming costly beyond measure in terms of lost Jaffa and smashed fleets and it showed no sign of ending soon.

Lord Zipacna commanding the fleet in the service of Apophis inwardly winced as once of his new ships finally succumbed to the pounding it was taking, its shields failing and the next volley shattered the pyramid ship, great burning chunks tumbling in space as air and Jaffa crewmen poured into the vacuum. A second of his Ha'tak's, this time an older model soon joined its younger brethren as debris gradually falling towards the icy wastes below.

'My Lord an enemy Ha'tak is destroyed' a Jaffa exclaimed as the combined fire of three of their ships blew one of Anubis ships to pieces.

'Good' Zipacna responded. Anubis could not replace his losses nearly as easily as Apophis so each lost ship was a body blow to the vile creature whose actions in the past had led even the other System Lords to think of him as a monster.

'More ships emerging from hyperspace' the Jaffa announced. 'Three of our new Ha'tak vessels and... My Lord it is the Great Mothership of Apophis himself!' he declared in a mixture of joy and awe.

Zipacna had a reputation of always having a smirk on his face but this time the smile was, and looked, completely genuine as the four new ships immediately joined in the battle. The three newly arrived Ha'tak ganging up on a single one of the enemy while the huge flagship began to throw the full weight of its main guns at the enemy battle line supporting Zipacna's own command.

On board the flagship Apophis watched in satisfaction as the puny Ha'tak of Anubis almost seemed to tremble before the sight of his most powerful vessel. Although for their size they were heavily armed and shielded the enemy ships were a mere six hundred metres across and were dwarfed by his three-kilometre plus wide leviathan which mounted guns that more than made up for in size and number what they lacked in relative sophistication. 'Watch how they quake in fear before my might' Apophis declared in a transmission to all his ships from his ornate chair on the flagship's pel'tak.

Enemy Ha'taks with shields already depleted from the fighting against Zipacna's fleet began to whither under Apophis's guns, their ferocity seemingly suitable as the wrath of a true god.

Three more Anubis motherships blew up in quick succession as they succumbed to the now overwhelming firepower directed at them. Jaffa on the ships of Apophis yelled in triumph as the enemy first faltered and then began to retreat into hyperspace, the least damaged vessels covering the withdrawal before joining it in flight.

'Cowards' Apophis declared with a sneer although he knew that Anubis would have given explicit orders to his ship commanders to pull out of the battle if losses mounted too high, he could not afford to sacrifice an entire fleet for the sake of Jaffa pride, the principle that he that fights and runs away lives to fight another day was well known to the Goa'uld. 'Order Zipacna to salvage the remains of the enemy ships and if he has time rescue any of my Jaffa that remain alive in the hulks of our own losses' Apophis ordered.

'Shall I plot a course back to Delmak?' a Jaffa queried.

'Yes' Apophis replied. 'Have the three Ha'tak that arrived with us stay here to reinforce Zipacna and return us to our palace' he ordered. Five more of the new ships currently fitting out should be completed within days and he would personally lead them and half of the ships already in orbit around Delmak against Baal he decided.

Apophis smiled. He had forgotten just how much fun it was to smite your foes in person, or at least from the command chair of a oversized warship.

When the remains of his own fleet arrived Anubis raged and had a number of senior Jaffa Officers executed to encourage the others to do better in future. Afterwards he issued orders to increase the amount of resources being ploughed into the construction of his own great mothership, one day he was going to blow that runt of a flagship Apophis used to pieces he decided.

**Amazon Basin – Earth – May 2002**

Squatting behind a tree Andianov looked at her hands, moved her fingers and then clenched a fist. 'It still feels...'

'Exactly like you?' Carter interrupted. 'Yes, we didn't even know we were copies at first' she said.

'When I woke up on the table I thought it hadn't worked until I realised I was wearing different clothes and then saw he other me standing by the doorway' the Russian said.

'Not as big a shock as when we found out though' Daniel opined. Watching Doctor Fraser withdraw that white hydraulic fluid from Jack's arm had likely been a somewhat more disturbing experience he decided.

'You'll adjust' Carter told her, 'even Colonel O'Neill mostly got used to it after a couple of years' she said. 'Well other than the occasional rant at Harlan whenever he remembers what it was like to enjoy a good meal and a beer.'

'Hey campers' the aforementioned O'Neill greeted them happily, returning to their position after checking out the perimeter of the base. 'Teal'c scouted us a way in and we'd better be moving before we run out of charge' he said.

'We're still good for at least a day and a half Sir' Carter pointed out. In order to maximise surprise they had been beamed down by the Redemption several miles away and had hacked their way through the dense rainforest to reach their objective, a now filthy pair of mighty-MALPs rumbling along behind them and now set up to give support fire if necessary.

'I just don't want to risk running out of juice in the middle of a base filled with hostile aliens' O'Neill stated. 'We get in there quietly, check the place out, disable any defences we can, find the head honcho, stun his little grey ass, call in the cavalry and then all we have to do is hold until relieved' he said, sounding all too enthusiastic about it.

'The personal cloaks are only good for two hours' Andianov pointed out. Indicating the unit clipped to her belt and the others.

'Plenty of time to get in the front door' O'Neill responded brightly. 'Just remember that they might not be able to see us, or detect us telepathically, but they can still sure as hell hear us so let's not do much talking or stamping around in there until it's time to stomp on a few heads okay?' he requested. 'That means no gushing just because you see a piece of new technology or some alien language written on the wall' he told Carter and Daniel. 'So what's _your_ weakness?' he asked Andianov. 'What gets the old hydraulics pumping?'

'Combat' the Russian replied, hefting her P3-A1 Heavy Plasma Rifle, they each had one plus several spare clips of ammunition, a harness full of Shock Grenades, a Laser Pistol and a Stun-Bomb launcher strapped to their backpack. Normally that much equipment plus the armour they were wearing would have been a burden but the androids of the unofficially christened "SG-1A" were built to a higher standard than the humans they were copied from. They even had a extra plate of trinium/ceramic laminate underneath their body armour protecting the power-cell and main pumps in their torso which made them considerably more likely to survive a stray shot.

'There you see, now _that's_ the kind of thing that _should_ get you excited' O'Neill declared. He had been going quietly insane not seeing any decent action since the "real" SG-1 found out the duplicates like him had been indulging in highly unauthorised missions of their own, but now he had the chance to do some good for Earth and finally prove how much of an asset he and his team were. 'Okay let's go kick some alien ass' he said, bringing up his own rifle. They had spent the last few days familiarising themselves with the new weaponry back on Altair and he was already a big fan although Harlan had gone ape when Daniel accidentally blew a hole in a defenceless wall which had only been innocently going about its business.

Getting inside the base proved easier than it might have been, invisible to the naked eye using the X-COM version of Nirrti's cloak they made their way to one of the surface access points where an unfortunate sectoid guard has his head turned around 180 degrees by a mechanical Jaffa the snap of its neck not loud enough to alert any others, Teal'c hid the body and they moved on. Like in their ships the sectoids used a sort of anti-gravity elevator within the base which Andianov was well familiar with and she led the others down into the expansive complex.

All the walls seemed to be covered in thin sheets of the alien alloys which made up their own body armour and Carter couldn't help but make mental note of the various devices they encountered as they quietly headed through the base, stepping aside to let wandering aliens making their ways along the metal corridors by. Daniel stopped in a large room which seemed to be filled with biological samples, including human remains, and finding a half dissected child he fought back the urge to blow the head off the next sectoid that crossed his path and continued on. Teal'c had headed for the aircraft hanger and was planting charges in locations which could not readily be seen by passing alien technicians who were working on the trio of Foo Fighters he found there.

Excessively wide corridors crisscrossed the base and the reason why became clear when O'Neill nearly ran into a Cyberdisk hovertank gliding along, presumably on patrol. He had memorised much of the X-COM documentation dealing with these things and knew it was heavily armoured and armed and exploded like a ton of TNT if you took one out. It felt strangely creepy to be walking around unnoticed deep inside the enemy lair like this but he fought back the emotion, stranger perhaps that he still had emotion in this artificial body and mind he thought to himself, watching the Cyberdisk turn into another corridor before he moved off again.

Doors in sectoid ships, and presumably the base too, opened for you automatically but the sensors that triggered them were no better at seeing the cloaked SG-1A than the aliens were so the team soon realised that if they were going to get inside what appeared to access on towards the command centre in the middle of the base they were going to have to either switch off the cloak or else hope to follow someone inside. O'Neill waited outside a double set of doors for five minutes hoping for a passing sectoid to oblige before eventually losing his patience and deciding it was time to abandon stealth for surprise.

O'Neill activated his internal radio transmitter and signalled the others. They had been keeping radio silence until now for fear of alerting the opposition to their presence too early but it was time to go to work properly. In some ways it was almost like telepathy itself, the androids could silently communicate mind to mind by encrypted radio transmission which gave them another edge in combat. He ordered them to converge on his position and got ready to make his move, switching his P3-A1 to stun, the zat'nik'tel based unit fitted under the barrel a better choice for shooting something you wanted kept alive than superheated plasma which could blow a hole in armour plate.

Rifle up and ready O'Neill switched off his cloak and stepped through the door which slid open for him. 'Game-time' he said both aloud and on the radio as he shot what appeared to be a very surprised sectoid on the other side. A narrow corridor on the other side looped around to a door which led into the command centre itself and O'Neill started running towards it, fishing a shock grenade out of his equipment harness ready to clear the place out properly.

Another sectoid in the way was stunned by a zat discharge before it had time to register the sudden appearance of a human so deep inside the base and reaching his destination O'Neill let the doors slide open and rolled in the grenade standing to one side of the doorway inside since he wasn't quite certain what the thing would do to androids if it went off next to one.

Bewilderment reigned in the enemy ranks. It had long been known that the sectoids weren't mindless automatons, they were susceptible to panic and had even been known to drop their weapons and cower away from battle at times of great stress and fear. Still cloaked, the rest of SG-1A began to shoot at every alien they saw while outside, activated by remote, the two armed MALP units began firing towards the base, confusing the situation still further.

Inside the command centre O'Neill found that there was another level above reachable by gravity elevator. He reached behind him and unhooked the stun-bomb launcher on his pack, firing it upwards to hopefully clear the room before dropping the now empty launcher and making his way up. All he found were unconscious sectoids and after zatting each to make absolutely sure they were suitably disabled he secured them together with plastic handcuffs, and went back down to join in the fun.

With only one way into the Command Centre it wasn't too difficult for the androids to secure the corridors that led to it. More and more alien soldiers appeared but lacking the ability to see who was firing at them their aim was needless to say badly impaired. Daniel had found himself a good spot and was firing blind around a corner, only his rifle and right arm available as a target as he pulled the trigger as fast as he could.

'Tank!' Carter exclaimed as a Cyberdisk came into view firing bolts of green plasma which destroyed anything they struck. A burst of Heavy Plasma from beside Carter slammed into it before it could close and the machine exploded with a deafening roar, blowing out a nearby wall. 'Nice shooting' she said, all three bolts had struck practically the same place coring the hovertanks armour.

'An easy target' Andianov replied switching her rifle back from plasma to zat fire.

'Think they're distracted enough yet Jack?' Daniel asked, grimacing as a bolt of green plasma nearly took his arm off. 'The cloaks can't have too much time left in the batteries and we're too outnumbered not to be invisible' he opined.

'Yeah time to call in the troops' O'Neill agreed. 'This is O'Neill, lets see some of you flesh and blood people down here risking their asses' he transmitted on his radio.

Two Skyranger Transports filled with armed and armoured X-COM Troopers lifted off from X-COM's own base in South America and accelerated towards the alien base soon passing the sound barrier. The chaos inside the complex hopefully ensuring the reception outside wasn't going to be too unpleasant.

'Blow the C-4 Teal'c' O'Neill ordered, the android copy of the Jaffa pulling a detonator remote from his pocket and triggering a series of charges they had placed in what they thought was the machinery than opened the hangers where the Foo Fighters were based. F-302 Reapers would be on hand to escort the Skyrangers in but it was better if they didn't have to fight off any alien craft that might scramble with the intent of defending the base.

The first explosion was followed by a second more titanic one that shook the whole base. 'Secondary explosion' O'Neill said with a frown. The C-4 must have set off something else, maybe the powerplant of a Foo Fighter, he thought, damn they were hoping to get those things intact if possible.

Carter pitched a shock-grenade down the corridor, the device becoming visible as it left her hand and bouncing on the floor a few times, eventually rolling to a stop and detonating in a bright flash. 'Nice' she said as a sectoid which had been leaning around a corner firing towards her fell unconscious into view , slumping onto the polished metal surface. It was even better than she thought because two others out of her line of sight had gone down as well. Her situation then worsened as her cloaking device ran out of power.

Teal'c took out another Cyberdisk, the machine scattering broken pieces in all directions just as his own cloak began to fail and he switched it off. They should find a way to run the devices off the androids own power cell he decided as the sectoids, finally having a target they could see, started placing return fire with considerably more accuracy.

'Crap' Carter swore as a stray Heavy Plasma bolt took her left leg off at the knee causing her to fall sideways before Andianov could grab her and pull her back into cover. 'That'll require a few hours in the machine shop' Carter said as she watched the white fluid she now thought of as her blood spurt onto the ground amidst electrical arcing from exposed wires.

'You okay Carter?' O'Neill asked with concern, he had been supporting Daniel but turned to see gow she was doing.

'Well if we need to run anywhere I'm in trouble but it's nothing I can't fix later' Carter told him. 'I'll put a tourniquet on the hydraulics' she said. 'The electronics I've already isolated' she added as the sparks started to die down. 'Hey do you think I'll get a medal?' she asked. 'The Purple Pump maybe?' she deadpanned.

Despite the situation O'Neill burst out laughing. 'That's the spirit Sam' he told her as Andianov picked up Carters rifle and began firing both, finding she had the strength to do so more effectively than she hoped.

Daniel had discovered something very useful about the rifle he was using. Because the zat'nik'tel unit ran off its own independent power-cell you could continue to fire it continually with a press of a button while you reloaded a fresh magazine for the Heavy Plasma. In short he found he could almost hide behind it which was good because there seemed to be an awful lot of aliens who were intent on killing him right now. 'How many shots does a zat fire?' he asked.

'Many hundred' Teal'c replied.

'Might not be enough' Daniel responded glumly. He was certainly going to run out of Heavy Plasma clips before too long anyway. 'So are we going to go out like Butch and Sundance at the end?' he asked.

'Yeah but I'm hoping that won't be for another few thousand years' O'Neill replied. 'That reminds me, now we're back on Earth we need to kidnap Matt Groening and have Harlan make a copy because I'm not going to cope with an eternity of nothing to watch but Simpsons reruns' he declared with a shudder.

Another huge explosion rocked the base. '_This is Assault Force X-Ray Niner_' a voice on the radio they could all hear announced. '_F-302's are currently strafing ground defences and we are inbound with relief troops_' it declared. '_ETA five minutes_'.

As the great Nelson Muntz would say, Ha Ha!' O'Neill jeered at the aliens. 'Now tell the truth isn't this better than being stuck at home?' he asked his team brightly.

Only his android reactions made it possible for him to avoid the remains of Carters leg when she threw it at him.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Major Davis was the liaison between the SGC and the Pentagon in the show, in this universe he has to deal with X-COM too. It's mentioned in the documentary fluff that came with **X-COM: Terror from the Deep** that the first alien base found was in the South American rainforest in September 2001, I had them find it a few months later(they only found it by accident anyway according to the notes, an Interceptor flew over it and was shot at)._

_When you back-engineered the Type 1 UFO (called the Foo Fighter here) in **X-COM: Interceptor** you gained access to an improved version of the hyperwave communication system the aliens had in the first game. I went with the idea that meant the earlier hyperwave decoders X-COM were using in 2001 or so couldn't detect the fighters any more than radar could. AI Combat androids were a feature of **X-COM: Apocalypse** incidentally where their complete resistance to psionics came in handy sometimes._

_KS7-535__ was the world they sent Anubis to in episode 8:03 __Lockdown__. I've seen __scalings__ that put the "superweapon" Mothership used as a flagship by Anubis as being over 5km across so it's a lot bigger than the 3km flagship of Apophis... for that matter it was bigger than Atlantis!_

_The androids having built in radios was mentioned in episode 4:21 __Double Jeopardy__. It may have been another Carter upgrade like the power-packs. I think "SG-1A" is a good name for them, but then I also think that awarding the "Purple Pump" to combat androids damaged in battle is hysterically funny so what do I know? _


	24. Chapter 24

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – May 2002**

Janet Fraser scowled at the Commander as he checked his watch and announced he had to gear up straight away for an offworld mission, apologising sardonically that he didn't have time to stand there for another five minutes and be berated by an over-protected parent before he turned and left the lab leaving her and Cassie alone, the researcher that had been monitoring the girls psionic progress having earlier surreptitiously fled as soon as Doctor Fraser arrived and began to accuse Sharp of trying to turn her daughter into some kind of walking WMD. 'I don't know why you like that man Cassie' she stated. 'He's only interested in your mind.'

'Can't be many teenage girls whose Mom's say that to them' Cassandra replied. 'Shouldn't you be warning me about older guys trying to get in my pants?' she asked with a grin. She was still sat in a chair with numerous electrodes connected to her head in front of a bank of computers and machinery. Although progress had been made in the direction of ordinary humans using psionics, field testing was already underway, none of them even came close to Cassandra's potential, the teenaged Hok'taur was simply in a class of her own and hence the subject of continued research and investigation.

'This isn't funny Cassie' Janet told her seriously.

'It's funnier than you think' Cassandra told her with a giggle.

Janet sighed. 'You're just a weapon to him Cassie not a person, it's like someone stripped part of his soul and all he cares about is winning.'

'That's not true' Cassandra replied with certainty. 'Well maybe about the winning part' she conceded, 'but he's not as bad as you think' she asserted. Cassandra knew that X-COM considered her an extremely valuable resource, with months of training in X-COM's "Psi-Labs" the very best human psionics could cause a subject to panic, even take control of another being for a short while if they concentrated hard enough, Cassie on the other hand could look right into a persons head and read their thoughts with ease, make "suggestions" which would have a person singing songs from West Side Story, the video of Colonel O'Neill involuntarily singing "Gee Officer Krupke" was a smash hit in the SGC. She was even showing signs of the telekinetic powers she had manifested during the "Mind Fire" returning, although _that_ did take a lot of concentration, and was haphazard as yet. Being able to make a pen levitate for a few seconds had led to some awestruck looks from Doctor Bill Lee, and a round of applause from everyone else present, but it wasn't all that useful given that for the most part it was far less effort to walk over and pick it up in your hand if you wanted it.

Doctor Fraser tried to make herself sound as reasonable and sympathetic as possible. 'I'm sorry Cassie' she began, 'I know you're bound to have a soft spot for him because of what he did to Nirrti to get her to save you but..'

'Mom, I'm not guessing here' Cassandra interrupted her.

'Cassie you're too young to really understand' Janet responded, ignoring the girl's rudeness and trying not to sound too condescending, that never played well with Cassie. 'It's like...'

'You're not _telepathic_ enough to understand' Cassandra interrupted for a second time. 'You're _guessing_, I'm stating a _fact_' she maintained forcefully.

'What?' Janet responded in surprise.

Cassandra indicated the device she was plugged into. 'Did you see me switch this thing off when you came in here and gave the Commander a piece of your mind?' she asked. 'He was so annoyed about it, _he_ forgot it had a Psi-Amp built into it as well as the monitoring gear' she said.

Janet blinked. 'A psionic amplifier?' she said slowly, looking at the machine. 'You were reading his thoughts?' she asked, eyes widening.

'Not at first, but I got bored listening and I started to wonder what he would have been saying if you'd given him more of chance to get a word in' Cassandra told her with an impish smile. It had been pretty funny to watch her Mom direct one of her well-meaning, but overly-protective maternal tirades at someone that wasn't _her_ for a change.

'You can't do things like that Cassandra' Janet declared sternly. 'It's an invasion of people's privacy' she said.

'I prefer to think of it as practice' Cassandra replied. 'So I guess you don't want to know what he was thinking?' she asked sweetly.

'No… I mean… ' Janet Fraser replied awkwardly.

'You probably wouldn't have liked the part where he was wondering if the reason you got divorced was because your ex-husband got sick of being lectured' Cassie observed.

Janet's face instantly shifted into a mask of fury. 'That son of a…'

'Then he decided you were only looking out for me and it was nice you cared that much seeing as how I'm only adopted' Cassandra added. 'He thought it was sweet.'

'Oh' Janet responded.

'Then his mind started to wander because you just kept talking at him and he decided you were hot too' Cassie told her. 'He had this vague idea of kissing you because it might stop you talking but it was just a random thought… not like when he started wondering what you were wearing under your uniform which is pretty much when I decided to get out of his head' she continued, 'I didn't want all the mental imagery he headed into after that' she stated with a grimace. 'I know they say men think about sex all the time and I guess it's true' she reasoned wondering if that was what the boys at school were thinking when they were just talking about random stuff, if so she was a mixture of sort of pleased and very disturbed.

Janet looked mortified. 'You can't _ever_ do that again or tell anyone about it' she said, starting to blush. 'It's wrong Cassie.'

'From what I saw before I decided to get out of his head the adjective I'd have gone for would have been "uncomfortable" because that desk over there isn't padded' Cassandra told her, very much enjoying just how uncomfortable in a different way her Mom now looked.

'Cassie!' Janet exclaimed. 'Enough' she told her sternly.

'Hey I learned all sorts of other things when his mind wandered' Cassie replied, changing tack, 'his new boots aren't properly broken in yet and hurt his feet, he thinks Jack is funny but tries too hard at it' she said. 'He cares more about losing people than you think because he was worried about not everyone coming back from his next mission' she continued, 'he feels guilty he's here fighting the Goa'uld instead of Loki because Jaffa are less dangerous than Sectoids... and I learned that Canadians say MILF like Americans' she added, earning exactly the look on her mothers face she was hoping for.

'I said that was _enough_ of that Cassie' Janet told her, blushing again.

'Mom that was important' Cassie replied with fake sincerity, 'my cover story is that I'm from Toronto not Hanka remember' she said. 'I should know these things' she said. 'It's like when I watched Ice Hockey because people expect me to understand the game' she said. 'I hope someone comes back and disconnects me from this thing soon' she said, shaking her head slightly so the wires connected to it rattled, 'Jack forced a hotdog and huge Diet Coke on me in the canteen earlier and I don't know how much longer I can go without needing to visit the restroom' she announced.

Janet frowned. 'I'll do it' she said reaching over.

'Better not touch it Mom' Cassandra warned, fending her off. 'They spent fifteen million dollars putting together this gear after I kept melting the stuff they tried before' she said. 'They're making a portable unit I can carry like a normal Psi-Amp' she told her mother. 'That'll be so cool... you know I mean if I don't accidentally melt it' she added.

'They're weaponising you' Janet responded, 'making you field deployable' she continued.

'Have Super-Psi-Amp, will travel' Cassie said, beaming. It was like being a super-hero or something, saving the human race from the evil aliens with her mutant psychic powers, X-COM meets the X-Men, she thought.

'I need to put a stop to this' Janet declared. 'It's already gone too far' she said.

'You'll do no such thing' Cassandra replied curtly. 'You know I want to help' she declared. 'This is how I get to pay everyone back for what they've done for me, good or bad' she asserted. 'Besides what are you going to do?' she asked, eyes showing amusement. 'It looks like venting on Commander Sharp only makes him... libidinous' she pointed out, using the word her mother had used when explaining the facts of life. 'So if I got Jack and Sam in here together want to bet I already know what they're thinking when they look at each other?' she asked.

'Don't you _dare_ Cassandra Fraser' Janet told her daughter, putting her foot down. It would be a gross invasion of their privacy and after working with the two of them for years it was a waste of effort anyhow, she thought, you didn't need to be telepathic to read those two when they were in close proximity.

'Spoilsport' Cassandra replied.

'You're not reading my mind right now are you?' Janet asked suspiciously.

'Nah' the teenager denied. 'Why? Are you lying to me?' she asked in amusement.

'Don't be silly Cassie, I just don't think that's an appropriate ability for _anyone_ let alone an impressionable young girl' Janet told her.

'You're not thinking about doing things on that desk too are you?' Cassandra asked with a giggle.

'No!' Doctor Fraser vehemently denied.

'Okay then' Cassandra accepted. 'So can you find a geek to get me the heck out of this thing before I explode?' she requested with increasing urgency.

'Maybe I should let you suffer for all the teasing' Janet suggested.

'Hippocratic Oath Mom, remember that one?' Cassandra reminded her. 'Do no harm' she added.

'I knew I'd regret making that one day' Doctor Janet Fraser replied with a sigh.

**Free Jaffa Camp – P8X-987 – May 2002**

'She is a proud woman' Bra'tac noted, 'she would not accept a prim'ta from a Jaffa still loyal to the false gods we slew in battle' he said, standing outside the tent where Drey'auc lay recovering.

Teal'c nodded, his wife's stubbornness was either a character flaw or one of her most admirable features, whether it was one or the other depended largely on circumstance. She was very far from the subservient ideal of a Jaffa woman and their verbal sparring on occasion made most of the battles he had fought pale by comparison. He loved her dearly but sometimes it was tempting to want to shake some sense into her. 'It is well that the Tau'ri have taken many Goa'uld larvae from the waters of their ancestral homeworld for study' he said. 'When you contacted us I was able to procure one readily' he noted.

'I do not understand why they would be fishing for Goa'uld in the manner you described' Bra'tac responded quizzically.

Teal'c crossed his arms. 'They seek large numbers of Goa'uld since they are trying to develop biological weapons with which to combat them' he said. 'The waters of P3X-888 teem with them, they use high explosives because the concussive effect brings many to the surface unconscious where they can be netted in safety.'

'But surely many Goa'uld also die' Bra'tac suggested. 'It seems wasteful' he opined.

'There are plenty and the Tau'ri of X-COM seem to greatly enjoy throwing their explosive grenades into rivers filled with Goa'uld' Teal'c told him. 'The wild Unas of that world often gather to watch with some amusement I am told, and they consume the dead symbiotes afterwards so the waste is minimised.'

Bra'tac raised an eyebrow. 'The cross-marked warriors in the service of Sharp of Canada are becoming renowned among the Jaffa for their savagery as well as their undeniable skill in battle' he said. 'When I have led Free Jaffa into battle alongside the Tau'ri they appear to relish in the mayhem and destruction they wreak' he said disparagingly.

'Amongst many of the Tau'ri who are not from Commander Sharp's forces the soldiers of X-COM are regarded as being of dubious sanity' Teal'c told him. 'They have seen too much battle and have been injected with drugs that enhance their combat skills but may negatively effect their reasoning.'

'The Tau'ri leaders force these drugs upon them?' Bra'tac asked in surprise.

'No they take them willingly without duress' Teal'c told him.

'Then they are insane' Bra'tac declared. 'A warrior does not give up his mind and soul for victory' he stated. 'If he does he has already lost the thing most worth fighting for' he said. 'Our number continue to swell' he noted, looking around at what was rapidly becoming a virtual tent city. 'The war between the Council of the System Lords and Apophis has greatly weakened the false gods and made many bold enough to publicly doubt the false gods' he said.

'The victories won by the Free Jaffa should not be discounted either old friend' Teal'c responded. 'That so many of our people fight in their own name rather than as slaves for another is a cause for great joy and pride' he said.

Bra'tac smiled. 'The truth of that is undeniable' he agreed. 'Only last week Rak'nor, M'zel and myself led near five hundred Jaffa into a great battle with the armies of Apophis, defeating a numerically superior foe and taking a Tel'tak and a pair of Al'kesh as trophies.'

'M'zel?' Teal'c queried. 'I do not know that Jaffa' he said.

Bra'tac sighed. 'You have been away from your people too long' he said sadly. 'M'zel served Heru'ur before his death, later Terok until the many defeats Terok suffered at the hands of Apophis confirmed to M'zel that his new master was far from being a god' he told his former apprentice.

'A good warrior?' Teal'c asked.

'Courageous and skilled in battle but more importantly he is wise beyond his sixty years' Bra'tac replied. 'I suspect that one reason our forces do so well against the deluded loyalist Jaffa is that we now promote our combat leaders based solely on ability not sycophancy or excessive reverence of age' he said. 'M'zel has become well respected among our ranks because he leads by example not through fear and holds deep conviction on the importance of freedom to choose which resonates well with our forces.'

Teal'c nodded. 'Wise indeed for someone so young' he agreed. 'Do you remember me at sixty?' he asked with a smile.

'I thought you were never going to grow up' Bra'tac told him with laughter. 'It was infuriating.'

'I am still surprised you didn't give up on me' Teal'c replied, chuckling himself.

'So am I' Bra'tac told him, his expression becoming more serious. 'There are continued rumblings of discontent that you do not take your place among your brothers' he said.

'If it was not for the Tau'ri we would not be where we are today' Teal'c replied. 'I serve our people best by keeping a foot in both camps' he said. 'The Tau'ri are a bridge that links us with other enemies of the Goa'uld, the Tok'ra and Asgard' he continued. 'The Free Jaffa need allies and friends of such power.'

Bra'tac frowned. 'Many of our people regard the Tok'ra as little better than the Goa'uld' he said. 'They also complain that while the Tau'ri give them their most fearsome weapons they only supply us with staff-rifles' he noted.

'Have not the staff-rifles proven effective?' Teal'c asked rhetorically.

'They are clearly superior in accuracy to the Goa'uld staff-weapons they are made from' Bra'tac conceded, 'but we know the Tau'ri could supply better, leaving their forces with an advantage if we ever came to blows in the future' he said.

Teal'c nodded. 'It is likely that was part of the reason' he replied. 'Commander Sharp and the other senior officers of X-COM regard all non-humans as a greater or lesser threat to their world' he said. 'It is fortunate they are restrained by their political hierarchy and moderates such as the Envoy and Scholar Elizabeth Weir.'

Rya'c put his head out of the tent. 'Mother says she is near recovered from the implantation of her new prim'ta' he told his father. 'She would like to see you' he added.

Bra'tac smiled. 'I will take Rya'c on a tour of the camp to leave you and Drey'auc alone to talk' he said. 'The boy has not had much opportunity to look around since he came here' he noted. 'Like a good son he rarely left his mother's side during her illness.'

'I would very much like to learn more about the martial art of Mastaba I have seen warriors practice Master Bra'tac' Rya'c requested.

The Jaffa Master nodded. 'Although it came to us from the false god Imhotep in the guise of K'tano it's effectiveness has meant that many have chosen to adopt it nonetheless' he said.

'And I would like a staff-rifle' Rya'c requested. 'I have only a zat'nik'tel and a bashaak training staff' he said.

'When I was your age I would have be grateful for either' Teal'c told him. At the boy's age he had been a refugee living in far worst circumstances than these after his mother had fled with him to Chulak following the murder of his father by Cronus.

'That was a very long time ago father' Rya'c responded. 'Things have changed since the days Unas were everywhere' he said in much the same tone as a child on Earth would have remarked that his parents remembered woolly mammoths.

Bra'tac laughed. 'And so life turns full circle' he said. Teal'c had been a sarcastic little bastard sometimes too when they first met over eight decades beforehand.

'You will still be here when I return?' Rya'c asked his father.

'I am not due to return to the SGC for three days' Teal'c replied.

'Good' Rya'c replied. 'Go to mother' he said then paused. 'She is not in a good mood' he warned.

Although he remained impassive on the outside Teal'c inwardly grimaced. He knew he had not exactly been the most attentive husband or father and he was deserved anything he got in the way of complaint on that front.

Which is not to say he wasn't really annoyed when his wife asked suspiciously why he always seemed to have that Tau'ri warrior woman in tow, she was there to assassinate him? A likely story, she said.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – May 2002**

'Perhaps someone could tell me exactly _why_ we have an archaeologist that probably absorbed enough radiation to make him glow in the dark in the infirmary?' Commander Sharp asked, dropping into a chair in the briefing room next to General Hammond and looking directly at Colonel O'Neill.

'Daniel needs to be placed in a sarcophagus immediately' Carter told him. 'It's the only thing that might save him right now, he absorbed at least seven grays and that much _will_ kill him' she said.

O'Neill glared at Sharp. 'We were told he had to wait his turn' he said.

'Both of them are already in use' Sharp replied. 'I'm told we took a lot of casualties in a UFO retrieval mission just before you came back through the gate.'

'Danny is going to die' O'Neill stated through clenched teeth.

'As I told you earlier Colonel the two people already in the sarcophagi are _already_ dead and they'll stay that way permanently unless they're given priority treatment' General Hammond reminded him. 'Doctor Jackson is in a lot of pain right now but I'm told it'll be many hours, perhaps days, until he dies' he said. 'If he starts to go down-hill quickly we can bring in one of the X-COM medics trained in the use of the hand-held healing device to stabilise him' he added.

'Sir the longer it's left the more severe the damage to Daniel's cells and genetic structure will become' Carter told him. 'Teal'c and the Sergeant are with him now' she said. There would be at least one of the team with him every moment until it was over.

'We've got two of the damn things Major' Commander Sharp pointed out, 'we can leave him in one of them for _days_ until he's fully healed if we have to' he said. 'We just can't do it until the poor son-of-a-bitch using the thing at the moment is breathing again.'

'We've got the _Redemption_ ready to beam Doctor Jackson directly to Area 51 where one of the sarcophagi is located as soon as its current occupant is ready to vacate it' General Hammond said. 'He was the least damaged physically so he should be the first to recover.'

'Look I know how you feel Colonel...' Sharp began.

'Bullshit, you couldn't care less about casualties' O'Neill spat back.

'You're out of line Colonel' Hammond told him.

'I don't let it cloud my judgement, or effect my decision making, but that doesn't mean I don't care, it just means I don't let my caring kill anyone _else_' Sharp told O'Neill coldly. 'Now I _still_ want to know why exactly one of _my_ people is hurt and am I going to have to do something unpleasant to someone else because of it?' he asked.

Carter checked the expression on the Colonel's face and decided he was calming down before explaining. 'Well it's like this Sir' she began. 'You know about naquadria?' she asked.

'Weird heavy isotope of naquadah, got the geeks buzzing with excitement, I read the preliminary report' Sharp replied.

'Yes Sir, it's extremely unstable but potentially makes naquadah look like yesterday's news' Carter replied. 'We could be looking at orders of magnitude more energy per unit of volume than weapons grade naquadah' she told him.

'Think grenades that could turn a major metropolis into a smoking crater' O'Neill interjected.

'More powerful shields and more compact hyperdrives is what we really need Sir' Carter responded.

'The _Kelownans_ are thinking bombs Carter' O'Neill pointed out. 'They want a super-weapon to scare the crap out of their neighbours' he said.

'Terrania and the Andari Federation' Carter explained. 'The three powers are in a sort of armed standoff, like a Cold War that could go hot any minute because they haven't got nuclear weapons as a deterrent' she said. 'Their technology is roughly Earth in the 1940's, they're working on Jet Aircraft, long range rocketry and the like' she continued. 'We had the Manhattan Project, they've got their naquadria bomb.'

'So was there an accident with the bomb?' Sharp asked. 'Like they had with the early A-Bomb programs?'

'The Kelownans say that Daniel was irradiated while trying to sabotage the weapon' O'Neill replied with a growl.

'Okay, just playing devil's advocate for the moment, was he?' Sharp asked. 'He is a civilian and his politics and philosophy aren't as... okay I'll give it, they aren't as fascist as someone like me' he said. 'If he thought the Kelownans were going to blow a few million people to pieces are we _certain_ he wouldn't have tried to do something about it?' he continued. 'I know Doctor Jackson might be willing to entertain us nuking the Goa'uld back to the Unas age but these are _people_ we're talking about here.'

'If Danny had done that he'd have told us' O'Neill responded. 'He's got the courage of his convictions.'

'What does he say happened then?' Sharp asked.

'He won't say, he says it doesn't matter' O'Neill replied.

'Well if he won't say get your sorry ass back to Kelowna and find someone that will' Sharp replied.

'We could try Jonas Quinn Sir' Carter suggested to O'Neill.

'Who?' Sharp queried.

'Kelownan geek that was part of their Research and Development Team, Daniel liked him' O'Neill explained.

'If you don't get anywhere, invite him or one of their government officials back here and I'll get Cassandra to take a look in their head' Sharp replied. 'I need to prove to Dwoskin that's she's worth what we're spending on her anyway' he said. The X-COM Finance Director was always writing Sharp nasty little memos asking when they were going to concrete results from all the money they were ploughing into Psionic R&D.

By the time O'Neill returned again, alone pissed-off and empty-handed from Kelowna Daniel was starting to hallucinate, or at least he thought he might be because if he wasn't he'd been having a conversation with the ascended being Oma Desala for the last hour. It all seemed real enough but one of the effects of large doses of radiation was that your brain swelled and being still confined to your skull this caused you to go more than slightly deranged.

Daniel wasn't quite certain if he was going to die, they might bring him back in a sarcophagus which given the severity of his radiation damage might mean days in there followed by weeks of serious withdrawal from the side-effects, but more than that he wasn't even completely sure it wouldn't be better if he just gave up. He knew others thought he'd contributed so much, helped so many and he had to admit that the way he ended up absorbing all the radiation was a nice example of self-sacrifice which he hoped Sha're would be proud of, but in many ways he still thought of himself as a failure somehow. For some reason Oma Desala seemed to be trying to persuade him otherwise, offering to ascend him to her plane of existence, but she was apparently hamstrung by the fact he didn't think he was worthy of it. This did of course imply that all ascended beings must be egotistical but he decided not to point this out for the sake of diplomacy, and whether she was the product of a delusion or not Oma was the only source of conversation in town because he was by now far too drugged up with morphine to talk properly to any of his friends.

Driven by guilt Jonas Quinn arrived through the stargate with the truth of what had happened with Daniel and all the naquadria he could bring with him. He requested asylum and was granted it, this soured relations between Earth and Kelowna for some time but they eventually contacted the SGC begging for help against a new foe in their midst that could not be deterred by a naquadria bomb or any other technology they had, genetically the people of the world Langara were very interesting and that led to attention from a quarter they neither wanted nor could ever have expected.

One thing that was very annoying about Oma, Daniel decided, was that she all too often talked in what most resembled Zen Kōans, these were very poetic by some terms of reference, and undoubtedly contained great wisdom, but they were cryptic as hell and one of the reasons he still preferred ancient Western Philosophy to Eastern. The thoughts of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle might seem to lack the soul of Buddhism in some ways but by God they were more considerate in saying what they meant to say without expecting you to have some kind of revelation first. Fortunately Oma, delusion or not, eventually realised she was going to have to stop talking like a fortune cookie if she wanted to talk Daniel around and she did have a very good reason for wanting to do so that she was annoyed she couldn't tell him.

'You said I was the only one qualified to judge myself? So, how ever much I want achievement enlightenment or whatever you want to call it, what happens if I look at my life and I don't honestly believe I deserve it?' Daniel asked.

'The success or failure of your deeds does not add up to the sum of your life. Your spirit cannot be weighed. Judge yourself by the intention of your actions and by the strength with which you faced the challenges that have stood in your way' Oma replied.

Daniel sighed, that could be a problem, he thought to himself. 'What if I can't?' he asked.

'The people closest to you have been trying to tell you that you have made a difference. That you did change things for the better' she said. That was true enough, there had been a steady stream of visitors giving him pep talks his entire time in the infirmary. Andianov had done hers in Russian so the medical staff couldn't understand, it was sweeter than he would have expected of the gun-slinging Sergeant but it was also a pain in the ass because she had kept him awake when what he wanted to do was get a couple of hours sleep.

'Not enough' Daniel stated. Maybe if he had managed to save Sha're it might have been different he thought to himself wistfully.

Oma smiled. 'The universe is vast and we are so small. There is only one thing we can ever truly control' she told him.

'What's that?' Daniel queried.

'Whether we are good or evil' Oma Desala told him.

Daniel nodded then frowned. 'You do realise that if the genetic determinists are right that a lot of what we think is moral behaviour is encoded into our DNA so the choice isn't fully ours?' he asked.

Oma grinned. 'Yes I know a great deal about what behaviour is coded into human DNA' she replied. 'Who do you think put it there?' she asked rhetorically. 'Trust me you are worthy, more worthy than most of us that are already ascended' she said. 'You want answers and I can give them but only if you accept the gift I'm offering.'

'Why? Why me? Why, why give me this chance? Daniel asked nonplussed.

'Anyone can reach enlightenment. Anyone prepared to open their mind as you did when you first came to Kheb' Oma told him. 'The Asgard told Colonel O'Neill that your race had true potential and they are right, even if they did monumentally screw up their species by seeking a short-cut to immortality through science.'

'They're going to save me. They're preparing to transport me to a sarcophagus' Daniel said.

'Then your journey will continue as before' Oma told him.

'What if I don't want it to? Not that way' Daniel replied.

'Walking the Great Path brings great responsibility. You cannot fear it nor hesitate in your resolve' Oma told him.

Daniel nodded. 'I understand. I'm ready to go with you' he agreed.

'At last' Oma responded with relief, sensing his sincerity. 'There's something you need to know about who you are' she told him. 'And now I can make you one of us I can tell you' she said.

'Me?' Daniel asked. 'What's special about me?' he asked.

'As an individual more than you give yourself credit for but I was talking about humanity as a whole' she told him. 'You've guessed who we are? The ascended beings I mean?'

'Nous ani Anqueetus' Daniel replied. 'We are the ancients' he translated.

'Right' Oma told him. 'This is what I looked like before I ascended' she told him, indicating her appearance.

'We're the second evolution of our race?' Daniel asked in surprised.

'You didn't evolve' Oma told him, 'well not really' she continued. 'We helped a lot, tweaked your DNA over millions of years so you ended up looking like we did.'

'God made man in his own image' Daniel remarked.

'We're not Gods' Oma told him. 'We're a long way from being omniscient or omnipotent' she told him, 'the real secret is how we changed you to be _not_ like us' she said.

'Dumber?' Daniel reasoned.

'No' Oma replied, 'we made you better... in some ways' she said.

'What ways?' Daniel asked in surprised.

'Heightened aggression, propensity to violence, strategic and tactical thinking, improvisation' Oma listed. 'Everything that was a weakness in us we fixed in you' she said.

'Those are _negatives_' Daniel maintained.

'You only think that because you haven't met the Wraith or the Ori yet' Oma told him. 'And there are other races out in the universe that make _them_ look _cuddly_' she added.

'You created us like the Goa'uld created the Jaffa!' Daniel exclaimed. 'We're war toys' he realised.

'We gave you the freedom to choose' Oma told him, 'we just equipped you better to meet the universe on its own terms than _we_ were' she said. 'We had technology you couldn't dream of but we were forced to flee one galaxy after another because we're not _like_ you' she said. 'Ascending in itself was another way to run and hide in a way' she continued. 'We had to start again from scratch, create a new type of humanity, and here you are' she said proudly. 'We don't interfere in what you might call the mortal planes much any more, we left you to your own devices, but we also left you better able to handle the dangers than we were' she said.

'Enemies of the Ancients, fear their children' Daniel said quietly.

'Appalled by the news?' Oma asked.

'Yes' Daniel replied honestly.

'I'll break it to you about Anubis after a nice slice of apple pie in the diner' Oma told him, her appearance changing so that she was inexplicably dressed like a waitress. 'It'll soften the blow.'

The members of SG-1 gathered around his bedside _were_ expecting Daniel to disappear in a flash of light but they were expecting it to be a transporter beam from the _Redemption_ not an ascension from archaeologist to higher being. Daniel did leave a note of sorts, appearing in Jack's mind to say goodbye first and explain as much as Oma let him.

He also went behind Oma's back and sent a message to Cassandra, knowing that she would be able to receive a psychic communication that others couldn't because it was deliberately not much more than a gentle wave on the psychic tide.

"AG-3 powered by heavy liquid naquadah" he told her. The very best war toys have initiative he thought to himself with a smirk, and sometimes ascended beings tell you more by accident than they may have actually wanted you to know.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_I hope the first section of that reads as funny as it seemed in my head!_

_Drey'auc__ the wife of Teal'c died because she needed a new __prim'ta__ in episode 6:01 __Redemption__ which occured shortly after this point in the Stargate timeline. Considering the SGC knew that there was a world (P3X-888) where there were wild Goa'uld present (and of course Unas) both the death of Drey'auc and the issue of the Pangarans in episode 6:10 __Cure__ needing a new Goa'uld Queen which the Tau'ri couldn't supply never made a hell of a lot of sense. There must have been queens (and infant goa'uld) on P3X-888 so the SGC would have been stupid not to have taken a few of them for study. X-COM would sure as hell been fishing for Goa'uld on P3X-888 so they've got a stockpile of the damn things. They did use biological weapons in **X-COM: Apocalypse** (anti-alien toxins and gas) so they're not averse to the idea of following the same route of beating the Goa'uld as the Aschen, Tok'ra and Trust took. __M'zel__ was featured in the series a couple of times, I needed another officer-type Jaffa for the Fic._

_The third section is very much based around episode 5:21 __Meridian__ but with a few extra revelations. Naquadria is a heavier isotope of naqudah, in XSGCOM liquid naquadah is just naquadah buckyballs so the "Heavy Liquid Naquadah" that powered the AG-3 weapon satellites featured in episode 4:17 __Absolute Power__ is naquadria buckyballs. The Harsesis (who was only a kid) accidentally gave Daniel a vision with more scientific accuracy in it than he intended!_

_The Ancients were unbelievably bad at war, with their technology humans would have beaten the Wraith to a pulp but for some reason the Lanteans lost. I've put this down to a combination of the same problems that the Tollan and the Asgard had (lack of strategic thinking/inability to improvise and think tactically and low tech when needed) and decided that the reason us humans are so much better at war is because the Ancients made us that way (we know they interfered with our development after all)._

_I'm back to writing my BtVS/AtS Compelled series from today so no XSGCOM next week, I might alternate writing chapters for one and the other, I'll have to see how much interest there is in each Fic._

_Hope you've enjoyed the story so far_. :-)


	25. Chapter 25

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Ha'tak Ship – Adara System – June 2002**

Strapped to a table looking up at the ceiling of his cell Thor found that his own language didn't quite have a suitable phrase for the circumstances so he resorted to English. 'Well I'm a sorry son-of-a-bitch' he said dejectedly, looking around as best he could.

The Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet, or perhaps the _former_ Supreme Commander would be more accurate he decided, given that his career would shortly end along with his life, couldn't help but think it all would have seemed a great deal more worthwhile if he'd actually been captured doing something a little more meaningful than defending a Research Station which had already been vacated for months. Automated sensors left in the largely stripped-out underground facility had signalled the arrival of Goa'uld vessels in orbit via subspace and since the Adara System was included in the Protected Planets Treaty Thor had taken the only available ship, an old Beliskner Class Cruiser which was waiting to be taken out of service, and had flown straight there to tell whichever System Lord it was to get lost or else.

Even though superseded by the O'Neill Class the venerable Beliskner was still thought by the Asgard to be more than a match for anything short of a large fleet of Goa'uld motherships. Although eventually pulverised and crash-landing as a result a single Beliskner had once defeated ten Ha'tak's in a battle over the planet Stennos which was the sort of loss ratio that any single one of the System Lord's with their limited industrial base simply weren't willing to accept. You might be able to overwhelm a Beliskner but you'd lose a fair percentage of your fleet doing it which meant that even if the Asgard didn't come gunning for you some other System Lord would take advantage of your losses and invade your domain. The best way to deal with the Asgard was to accept that the twenty-seven worlds listed in the Protected Planet's Treaty were theirs and be happy with the rest of the Galaxy.

Thor remembered his confidence when he emerged from hyperspace to find himself facing a mere two Ha'tak vessels and he ordered them to leave the Adara System as they were in violation of the treaty by being there. The Goa'uld in command of the vessels had been Athena, a middle-ranking though ambitious character known to have allied herself with every up and coming System Lord that arose over the past few centuries, and now thought by the Tok'ra to be in league with Anubis, and Thor had been surprised by her dismissive reaction to the gravity of his threat. Wondering if Athena had been spending too much time in the sarcophagus of late, and had therefore lost her grip on her faculties, Thor powered weapons and engaged the lead Ha'tak.

It had not gone according to plan, or at least it had not gone according to _Thor's_ plan, the one Athena seemed to be working to had gone pretty well because to the consternation of the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet his weaponry had been absorbed by the enemy shields and the two Ha'tak's had then opened up with their own main guns which were considerably more powerful than any he had witnessed the Goa'uld using before.

'Too much reliance on high technology and not enough brute force' Thor muttered to himself bitterly in his own language. Although the Beliskner had vast power-requirements met by its four neutrino-ion generators, it was not designed to feed more than a fraction of that energy into its weaponry, the generators were there to power the inter-galactic hyperdrive. The ships armament was an advanced system designed to penetrate shields and did not require the bludgeon effect of the oversized staff-cannon the Goa'uld used, it used finesse not force to destroy enemy ships, and had never failed until now. Unfortunately the upgraded shields on these new Goa'uld motherships produced by Anubis seemed to counter the shield-piercing effect and unable to transfer enough energy into his guns to batter them into submission instead Thor had found himself defeated by ships that between them only had a fraction of the power-output that the Beliskner did.

The Ion Cannon used by the Tollan would likely have failed too, Thor realised. They used a similar system to the Asgard in that their anti-ship weaponry was highly effective at cutting through the old-style Goa'uld shields and did not therefore bother with an excessive amount of raw firepower. Either of the two advanced societies could construct weapons with yields that would dwarf the amount of energy even these new Ha'taks could manage but they were both too over-confident in the superiority of the weaponry they already had to have done so.

The Goa'uld walked in looking justifiably smug, for centuries, millennia, they had been forced to kowtow to the pathetic little grey creatures and now those days were over. 'You have committed an act of war against the Asgard' Thor stated. 'The response will be swift and decisive' he declared with considerably more bluster than he would have liked.

Athena smirked. 'As swift and decisive as your attempt to defend this planet?' she asked sarcastically.

'We underestimated your strength' Thor replied. 'That mistake will not be made again' he told her. 'You are also underestimating ours' he continued. 'The Goa'uld may have somehow developed more advanced defence technology but the vessel you defeated is of a type we are currently replacing with a far more powerful vessel which unlike the one I was commanding is built solely for war' he said. 'You would do well not to provoke my people' he advised.

'You _may_ have better than that pathetic ship I vanquished' Athena conceded, though she doubted it given that the Asgard had been using that type since the Goa'uld had first encountered them, 'but we will soon have all the secrets of your technology' she said.

'My ship's generators self-destructed after I ejected in the escape pod you retrieved' Thor replied, 'you will be unable to obtain much useful information from the debris' he told her. 'The battle damage you previously inflicted yourself had already destroyed many of the systems' he added.

The Goa'uld smiled. 'I meant we would obtain knowledge of Asgard technology from you yourself' she explained with an expression that Thor would have found unsettling if he'd been better at reading those of humans or human hosts.

'I will never surrender my knowledge to you' Thor stated with determination, although seemingly fragile the Asgard were not a race that would break easily under torture, they were a wilfully determined people who would sooner die than betray their principles or their species. Self-sacrifice was something they regarded as one of the greatest virtues an individual could have, that was one of the many reasons despised the self-serving Goa'uld.

'Not to me, no. Anubis himself has taken an interest in this matter. He's on his way here as we speak' Athena told him. 'After he has stripped you of your knowledge...'

'Or failed to do, so he will kill me' Thor interrupted. 'You may as well do so now because I will neither cooperate nor succumb to torture' he said.

Athena looked smug once again. 'Anubis has a device that will be implanted in your brain and simply download your knowledge into this ships computer' she told him.

'The Goa'uld have no such technology' Thor stated with certainty. Improved shields and weapons were one thing, but that kind of device required a degree of technical sophistication which only one of the Four Great Races could have managed, Thor doubted that even the Tollan could do it which meant the Goa'uld had no chance at all.

'Things have changed Supreme Commander' Athena told him, 'more than you know' she said. 'In any case I wouldn't worry about your death just yet' she continued, 'Anubis has a better use for you alive than he does dead' she told him. 'The Asgard High Council would not be willing to negotiate anything for your release but the Tau'ri will surely accept the trade we have in mind.'

'What could they have that any Goa'uld would want?' Thor queried in confusion. 'Especially one that is clearly the most advanced?' he asked.

'Anubis has learned that the Tau'ri recovered the Eye of Tiamat before he was able to do so' Athena explained. 'We are certain that they will swap it for your life' she continued, 'they are a weak and sentimental people.'

Thor looked back at the ceiling. 'It seems that everyone is underestimating everyone else today' he observed.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2002**

'And since when have the Tok'ra been the messenger-boys for the Goa'uld?' O'Neill asked sardonically as the Tok'ra Aldwin had the decency to at least look awkward about it and had appeared fairly embarrassed over the situation ever since he arrived.

'Colonel we are merely part of a conduit between the two parties involved' Anise said in her fellow Tok'ra's defence. She had ringed down from the Enterprise as soon as she heard another Tok'ra was on Earth but might have stayed up there if she'd known the purpose of the visit, the notion of treating with the Goa'uld made her skin crawl.

Aldwin nodded. 'Anubis relayed the communication to Ba'al who requested our operative Zarin to forward the message to the Tau'ri via Tok'ra channels' he said, looking around the briefing room and noting the less than enthused expressions on their faces. 'Anubis wishes to exchange his captive the Asgard Thor for the crystal known as the Eye of Tiamat which he believes you obtained from the Ziggurat of Marduk.'

'Tell him to go fuck himself' Commander Sharp responded, checking his watch. It was nearly lunchtime and today's special sounded almost appetising.

Unfamiliar with the Tau'ri military officer Aldwin looked at him in surprise, for her part Anise was however rather less taken aback by the reply having dealt with the man for quite some time now as she continued to help the Tau'ri scientists and engineers master Goa'uld technology. 'Shall we assume that is not your final stance in any negotiation?' she asked with some amusement.

'The Commander likes to take a firm opening position' General Hammond responded, noting the half smile on her face and trying not to laugh.

'Sir if we could get Thor back it would likely help cement our relations with the Asgard still further and he'd owe us one' Carter pointed out.

'Exactly how many are the Asgard going to have to owe us before we start seeing something concrete in return Major?' Sharpe asked flatly. 'If the Asgard had more balls, the lack of which is not just because they're asexual clones, they'd launch an escalating series of strikes against Anubis until he let Thor go' he said. 'They haven't even taken out a few Ha'taks in retaliation for the cruiser they lost' he continued, rolling his eyes, 'if they aren't going to any lengths to get their man back why the hell should we?' he asked rhetorically.

'We know from the subspace message Freyr sent to Heimdall at Area 51 that the Asgard Fleet is still tied up with the Replicators' Carter responded. 'They're in no position to jump into another war especially given that the new ships Anubis is using are apparently too advanced to risk deploying anything except their best vessels against' she said, that in itself had come as a shock when the news arrived about Thor. It had been known that the new model Ha'taks were better than the previous versions in Goa'uld service but the idea that their shields could withstand Asgard weaponry was pretty horrifying given that it critically endangered the Protected Planets Treaty.

'They need more O'Neills' the eponymous Colonel declared.

'We've got one I could be persuaded to part with' General Hammond quipped.

'I'll write up the outstanding mission evaluation reports today Sir I swear' O'Neill responded. Not so long ago he would have pleaded with Daniel to help out with the paperwork when it had built up into a backlog where the General wasn't going to let it go, now he had to do it himself, one more reason to miss him, not that he didn't have more than enough of those already.

'I am surprised that Anubis would think the Eye more valuable than Thor' Teal'c observed. 'As either a source of information or as a symbol of his power the Supreme Commander of the Asgard would be a captive of incalculable worth to any System Lord' he said.

'What do we know about the thing Major?' General Hammond asked.

Carter pursed her lips. 'Initial testing demonstrates it can be used to focus energy, but beyond that we're not certain what its purpose was' she replied.

'There were originally six eyes including that of Anubis himself plus those of Ra, Apophis, Tiamat, Osiris, Ba'al and Balor' Anise spoke up, ancient technology was her academic specialty. 'The leading System Lords in the era they were first discovered' she said. 'They are believed not of Goa'uld design but are examples of the technology of the gate builders and were considered symbols of the high status of those that owned one' she explained. 'Their power however was more than symbolic as they could be used to amplify the power of a ships weaponry if required' she said.

'So Anubis already has one of the Eyes?' O'Neill queried.

'Our information is that he already has those of Balor, which was in the possession of Morrigan, and that of Ba'al as well' Aldwin responded. 'Apophis still has his own, you have the Eye of Tiamat and those of Osiris and Ra have not been heard from for thousands of years' he said.

'We might have the Eye of Osiris too, or at least we know someone that might know where it is and be persuaded to tell if asked the right way' Sharp noted wryly. He would have her mind-raped again if the less than idle threat to do so wasn't enough to gain her cooperation.

'Why would he want the one we've got if he's already got three?' General Hammond asked curiously.

'Hey people collect those Pokémon things' O'Neill replied. 'Maybe he's just gotta have them all?' he suggested.

'Colonel' Sharp began, glaring at him. 'I'm armed' he pointed out meaningfully. 'Now if he wants them I don't want him to have them, that's the big picture' he said, getting back on track. 'Now I know the idea of leaving no man, or little grey alien, behind might sound noble, but the way I see it this is no different than negotiating with some kidnapper asking for a ransom' he opined. 'You don't pay them off, you track them down and kick their ass.'

'We're in even less of a position to do that than the Asgard themselves Sir' Carter told him.

'Okay but couldn't we just screw the rat-bastard over?' O'Neill suggested. 'End up with Thor, the Eye, _and_ a really pissed-off Goa'uld?' he asked.

Aldwin frowned. 'Anubis is neither stupid or easily fooled' he said. 'You should not expect to easily deceive or swindle him' he warned.

'Anything in mind Colonel?' Hammond inquired with interest. Sharp looked intrigued too.

'I could give it some thought Sir but what we really need is a sneaky, underhanded, amoral, tricky son-of-a-bitch to plan something for us' O'Neill replied. 'I think we know just the man we need for this kind of thing' he said sagely. 'So do we know where in the galaxy Harry Maybourne is right now and how easily and quickly we can get him back?' he asked Commander Sharp.

Hammond raised his eyebrows. 'You know we had our moments' he said, 'but we never used to be _this_ despicable in the old days' he observed sadly to Aldwin and Anise who were more than slightly confused.

**Forest Clearing – P6J-452 – June 2002**

'I'm still not certain that giving the Tok'ra access to the transporter technology on the Redemption was a fair deal for this thing' Samantha Carter opined to Teal'c as she took a closer look at the controls of their newly acquired Tel'tak transport. 'I think we got sold a clunker' she said, slightly lifting a loose panel.

Teal'c nodded. 'The cloaking device the Tok'ra fitted is likely the only work done to this vessel in five centuries or more' he agreed. 'I would not be surprised if a pilot of Master Bra'tac's great-grandfathers generation had requested this vessel be retired.'

'I might recommend we scrap this thing and put the cloak and the shield on our Al'kesh instead' Carter said thoughtfully.

'A wise course of action' Teal'c concurred, rocking the pilot's seat side to side. It had rattled every time they pushed the engine to more than three-quarters of its rated maximum and after a few hours it had driven the usually stoic Jaffa to distraction.

'And next time we trade for a ship we send an engineer to look over it before we shake hands on the deal' Carter added. Doctor Weir was a great diplomat and had negotiated far more out of both the Tok'ra and Tollan than people would have thought possible a couple of years ago, but she clearly wasn't the ideal person to broker a deal on a used spaceship which had enjoyed more than a few careless owners.

'Colonel O'Neill and Sergeant Andianov should be making their rendezvous with Maybourne shortly' Teal'c noted. He and Carter had remained with the ship in case a quick getaway, or perhaps repair, was needed.

Carter looked out at the forest. 'I tried to talk to the Colonel about Daniel again' she said quietly.

Teal'c looked at her. 'He was not receptive to the conversation I would assume?' he asked.

'It's like he's pretending it didn't happen' she said. 'Or that it doesn't bother him' she added.

'You continue to mourn his loss' Teal'c stated.

'Of course, don't you?' Carter snapped back. 'I'm not going to get more "way of the warrior" crap from you am I?' she asked rhetorically. 'I've had about all I can take of that from Andianov and the Colonel' she said.

'Daniel Jackson has ascended to a higher plane of existence' Teal'c replied. 'Many Jaffa over the years have dedicated their lives to finding Kheb as a means achieving such a goal' he noted.

'So I'm supposed to celebrate?' Carter asked sardonically.

'It is a great accomplishment' Teal'c replied.

'We were a team, Teal'c, friends' Carter declared. 'No one can even begin to understand what we went through together, what we mean to each other' she continued. 'So maybe Daniel has achieved something of great cosmic significance, I don't know. And to be honest with you, right now, I don't really care' she told him. 'I'd rather have him back' she said.

Teal'c looked out at the forest. 'As would I' he admitted wistfully.  
Carter smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. 'Good to know' she said.  
'You might be interested to hear Major Carter that the Sergeant has also expressed her sorrow to me about losing Doctor Jackson' Teal'c said.

'You're kidding?' Carter responded in surprise.

'No' Teal'c denied. 'I was invited to join several of the non-commissioned officers to a bar and while there the Sergeant drank too much and became maudlin' he told her. 'She is somewhat confused however as to what bothers her more' he continued., 'the fact that she mourns the loss or that she has become soft during her time with the SGC' he said.

'What?' Carter queried in confusion.

'In her previous unit losing team members was a regular, perhaps frequent occurrence' Teal'c explained. 'The X-COM soldiers became hardened to it as a result as did not dwell on the loss of a comrade' he told her.

'She's been on the team over a year and a half and we haven't lost anyone until now' Carter realised. 'So what you're saying is she's not only depressed because Daniel's gone she's also depressed because she's depressed about it' she said.

'Indeed' Teal'c confirmed. 'As I said, she believes she has become weak.'

'What she got is some of her humanity back' Carter stated forcefully.

'It is my belief that she conflates the two' Teal'c opined.

Carter sighed. 'You're probably right' she replied. 'I'm surprised she talked to you' she told him. 'I'm not unapproachable am I?' she asked, hoping she wasn't.

'You are an officer and in any case she would likely have not been as open with me if I was not the only thing keeping her upright' Teal'c responded. 'The drinking competition with the new sergeant on SG-3 was not conducive to her balance' he recalled.

'Who won?' Carter asked curiously.

'The Marines may never forgive him' Teal'c replied.

Three miles to the east Colonel O'Neill was grateful that unlike his second-in-command Sergeant Andianov did not seem interested in discussing their feelings as they hiked through the forest towards the agricultural land that covered much of this part of the planet. Lacking mines or industry it was apparently the farms on P6J-452 which were the basis of the local economy and they generated enough trade to warrant the local Goa'uld System Lord to keep a close watch on the Stargate which was why they were extracting Maybourne by cloaked ship after contacting him by radio.

'Stay alert Sergeant' O'Neill advised. 'The Jaffa Garrison could be out looking for our guy' he said. They would certainly have been alerted by the signal sent through the gate from Earth, normally operatives working secretly off-world only communicated at set times from pre-arranged worlds known to be Goa'uld free.

'Sir when have you ever known me to not be alert?' Andianov responded, continually looking around, rifle ready for action.

'Point conceded' O'Neill replied. 'Sometimes I just have to do the officer thing you understand' he added.

Andianov nodded, it was usually best to accept their occasional compulsive need to give orders, even when completely unnecessary, with quiet acceptance if not good humour. Spotting movement in the trees she suddenly stopped dead and dropped to one knee, the Colonel doing likewise without asking questions, he wasn't by any means the stupidest commanding officer she had ever had.

Seconds later when it became apparent who it was, and after checking they didn't have any obvious Jaffa in the vicinity O'Neill frowned and Andianov took up a position to give covering fire if necessary as the Colonel went to meet the man they were there to collect.

'Maybourne, for crying out loud who the hell is that?' Colonel O'Neill asked the former NID man who was dressed in the same disguise of traders clothes he had been the last time they met but was now accompanied by a fearful looking young woman wearing considerably less ornate garments.

'Jack! Nice to see you again, always a pleasure' Maybourne replied with what sounded like sincerity but of course that didn't mean a hell of a lot. 'Didn't expect them to send you as the taxi service' he said.

'I wouldn't trust anyone else to treat you with the suspicion you deserve' O'Neill replied. 'And you didn't answer my question' he added.

'Don't worry about Aikaterina here' Maybourne told him. 'She's harmless' he said indicating the girl who was in her late teens or maybe early twenties.

'She's also uninvited' O'Neill replied, 'who is she and why have you dragged her along?' he asked.

'Well I couldn't leave her alone' Maybourne replied, 'she's a hard worker but totally incapable of looking after herself without direction' he said, the girl looking at O'Neill and his strange clothes fearfully. 'Don't worry she'll be no bother and after I've done whatever it is the brass wants me to do you can drop us off again somewhere' he said, stepping closer to O'Neill away from the girl 'She's part of my cover' he whispered.

'Harry, who the hell is the girl?' O'Neill asked flatly.

'Officially she's my slave but...' Maybourne began.

O'Neill glared at him. 'Did you _buy_ this woman?' he interrupted.

'I did a trade with a guy in the Lucian Cartel that bought a batch off a minor Goa'uld that was down on his luck because of the war' Maybourne replied. 'They're like a criminal syndicate of smugglers and other unsavoury characters that operate under the radar of the System Lords in this part of the galaxy' he explained. 'I really wanted someone with more muscles to haul a cart for me but I didn't like the way some of the people bidding for her looked, they had dishonorable intentions I could tell' he said.

'Recognise the look from the mirror did you?' O'Neill asked sarcastically. 'You're free' he told the girl. 'Go have a nice life' he added.

The girl looked back at him blankly as Maybourne shook his head. 'She's been a slave all her life' he said. 'You can't just let her go and expect her to be okay' he said.

O'Neill pursed his lips and then grabbed Maybourne by the collar pulling him close. 'Harry you can't bring your slave-girl along' he told him sternly. 'You'll just have to jerk off like the rest of us' he added more quietly.

'I haven't laid a finger on her' Maybourne declared defensively. 'I mean I might have' he admitted, 'but the guilt stopped me first' he said. 'Honest she's just part of my cover, she carries my bags, cooks and does my laundry and that's it' he told O'Neill.

'Please don't hurt the master' the girl begged, voice trembling.

O'Neill released his grip. 'God damn it Maybourne' he said angrily. 'If she comes with us to Earth I'm handing her over to someone I trust her with more than I do you' he said.

'That's fine by me' Maybourne replied with a grin. 'Come on Aikaterina' he said brightly. 'I'm going to take you home' he told her.

'Do you wish me to rub your feet again before we set out on our journey?' the girl asked compliantly.

'You're a bad, bad man Harry' O'Neill told him with a disapproving shake of the head.

'Isn't that why I'm in demand?' Maybourne replied smugly. 'And for the record didn't Doctor Jackson screw the girl he was given on Abydos?' he asked. 'Sha're wasn't it?'

'He married her' O'Neill spat back with a great deal more passion than Maybourne was expecting. 'Get your ass in gear, we need to get back quickly and our ship is a pile of crap' he growled.

'You're in a bad mood today, get up on the wrong side of bed this morning?' Maybourne asked.

'Jackson's gone' O'Neill told him coldly.

Maybourne blinked, he hadn't known, you tended to be badly out of the loop if you'd been out in the boonies a while. 'And by gone I guess you don't mean he's back digging up pieces of pottery in Egypt' he asked rhetorically.

'No I _don't_ mean that' O'Neill replied curtly.

'I'm sorry' Maybourne told him, 'really I am, he was a decent man' he said.  
'Better than either of us Maybourne' O'Neill agreed. 'Now come on we need that twisted mind of yours to do its thing' he said.

'So is this a good time to renegotiate my pay if I'm in demand?' Maybourne queried.

'You know if you were a few pounds lighter I'd zat you but I don't want to haul your fat ass back to the ship' O'Neill replied, narrowing his eyes.

'I'll take that as a no' Maybourne decided. 'So on another matter do you think I can claim what I spent on Aikaterina back on expenses?' he asked hopefully. 'I had to pay a premium because she's got all her teeth' he announced.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_Episode 5:22 __Revelations__ works out rather differently here because Heimdall has already relocated herself and her research to Earth. With Osiris still being held on Earth too the Goa'uld __Athena__ has managed to take her place as one of Anubis leading lieutenants. She did work for Anubis (and a catalogue of other System Lords at one time or another) so it's not particularly unlikely. The notion that the Beliskner was beaten by a mere two Hat'ak motherships because it's weapons are more high-tech than brute force makes sense to me in that it also explains why the Tollan Ion Cannon's failed. In both cases the more technologically advanced societies were too over-confident and like the Ancients in their war against the Wraith they paid the price for preferring subtlety to a sledgehammer in weapons design._

_Aldwin__ was a Tok'ra that appeared in a few episodes. If you're doing dirty-tricks in the Stargate universe you bring in Harry Maybourne to organise it for you, the only character remotely as sneaky and underhanded on the other side (if you could say Maybourne had a side other than himself) was Ba'al, poor old Anubis wasn't in the same league._

_P6J-452 was the planet the __Lucian Alliance__ were growing __Kassa__ on in episode 9:16 __Off The Grid__. At this point the Lucian Alliance didn't exist as such, it's just a loose grouping of criminal types (the kind Maybourne would be seeking links with to improve Earth's off-world intelligence assets)._


	26. Chapter 26

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2002**

Sitting at his desk across from Commander Sharp General Hammond finished reading the preliminary plan Maybourne had concocted and closed the file slowly. 'The man should have gone into law or politics' he said.

'I think we're all grateful he didn't' Sharp replied. 'You know if this works Anubis is going to be _pissed_' he said meaningfully.

'Not just Anubis' Hammond pointed out. 'It's a good thing the Goa'uld are too mutually distrustful and far too busy fighting each other already to collectively retaliate.'

'If you're going to kick somebody up the ass make sure they're already caught up in a fight they can't turn their back on' Sharp observed. 'It might not be sporting but this isn't a game' he continued, 'and anyway it's funny' he added with a chuckle.

Hammond smiled, there was a certain satisfaction to be had at yanking the chains of the System Lord's even if he personally thought that some of his staff, Colonel O'Neill, for example, enjoyed it a little more than was healthy. 'I assume you read the request the Tollan made to us via Ambassador Faxon?' he asked.

Sharp nodded. 'Plus Faxon's own notes on the situation on Tollana' he confirmed. 'The Curia are shitting themselves at the news that there's even one Goa'uld System Lord with shields that are likely just as able to stop their Ion Cannon fire as they are Asgard shield-piercing weaponry' he said. 'The general population is demanding their government do something and unfortunately for them we're the only game in town' he said. 'The Tollan know we've back-engineered the main guns from the _Enterprise_ with Tok'ra help, and they know that even older Goa'uld weapon designs work against Anubis built Ha'taks because Apophis managed to take a few down before he got his own new ships' the Commander continued, 'until they can come up with an Ion Cannon design with a lot more punch behind it they want our plans for Ha'tak weaponry.'

'And we're going to give it to them' Hammond replied, 'without payment?' he queried. 'That threw me I've got to admit Russ' the General told him, it wasn't exactly the usual X-COM way of doing things.

'Without payment _now_' Sharp corrected Hammond. 'They get the plans for an effective weapon they can retrofit to their cruisers, and maybe emplace a few on the ground around their capital city' he said. '_We_ get the plans for their Heavy Ion Cannon when they've got them' he said.

'Heavy Ion Cannon?' Hammond repeated quizzically.

'Apparently just scaling up their existing design wouldn't work for some reason, but basically the Tollan are just going to go back to the drawing board and make something that's got at least a hundred times as much power behind it' Sharp explained, 'they've got the science and engineering to do it they just never bothered because what they already had worked for centuries' he said. 'The basic idea is that any shield it can't penetrate it'll batter down just like the Goa'uld do it.'

'Not exactly typical Tollan thinking' Hammond observed.

'Our military attaché on Tollana pointed out the benefits of thinking like unsophisticated barbarians' Sharp replied wryly. 'The Tollan think we're primitive but like the Asgard they're starting to realise that it's our low-tech, brute-force methods that still get the job done when their high-tech fails' he said. 'Reliability fades with complexity after all.'

'Having a permanent presence on Tollana helps our relations' Hammond pointed out, 'I know Ambassador Faxon has been leading a charm offensive, getting to know the people worth knowing in the Curia and the media, they've got political discussion shows on their equivalents of C-SPAN and CNN, they often invite him on to give his opinions on galactic events which are more pressing on the Tollan as they emerge from centuries of isolation' he said. 'He's even persuaded some of the Embassy Staff to visit schools and answer questions from Tollan children.'

'Hearts and minds' Sharp said with a smile, 'the kids go home and tell their parents that the knuckle-draggers from Earth aren't that bad really.'

Hammond nodded and grinned. 'We might get a trade deal out of it too' he said. 'After making sure they didn't have to worry about allergies someone gave out chocolate to the kids, our Trade Representative found himself with several entrepreneur parents trying to make deals and requesting importation rights from the Curia' he said. 'I can imagine how my grandchildren would have been if they'd never tasted chocolate before' he continued. 'The Tollan probably thought we'd put a narcotic into the stuff at first' the General declared with a chuckle.

Sharp smiled in response and then looked thoughtful. 'Spices' he said randomly. 'They might not want our manufactured goods, they keep telling us so, but they might be interested in spices, that's how the first big global trading companies started out' he remembered from the last few minutes of a documentary he'd watched on the Discovery Channel once waiting for a show about Hannibal. 'A few crates of spices would go a long way, the Tollan population isn't huge, we could corner the market there' he said. 'Build up a trade relationship to help break down their isolationist instincts a little more.'

'Commodore Perry opened Japan up to trade and less than a hundred years later the United States was at war with them' Hammond pointed out. 'If the Tollan had been more like us then we might have seen their warships over Earth years ago.'

'If the Tollan were more like _us_, the Goa'uld would have been wiped out years ago' Sharp responded flatly. 'And Perry opened up Japan to the outside world with the power of the United States Navy' he noted, 'we're helping _protect_ Tollana from warships, not threatening them with some' he continued. 'If it was the Aschen we were talking about I'd think differently, those people creep me the hell out and I like the fact they're bottled up' he declared, 'but the Tollan? It's a damn good thing that they might be heading towards the stage where they step up and take a role in the galaxy' he said. 'With their technology, and our ways of doing things, humanity will prosper.'

'The Tollan as the Athens to our Rome?' Hammond suggested, Sharp wasn't the only one who liked documentary channels although their tastes in sports broadcasts differed.

'A small advanced democratic city-state with the technology and science but not the population, drive and resources to dominate the known world, or galaxy, supplanted by a power that does have the last three?' Sharp replied. 'Sounds a pretty reasonable analogy to me now I think about it' he said.

'And when Earth, sorry I should probably say _Terra_ if we're going with the Roman theme, is victorious over the Sectoids and the Goa'uld?' Hammond queried.

'Vae victis' Sharp quoted in Latin. 'Woe to the vanquished' he translated.

The Ascended Ancients watching the conversation were very pleased that their plans were coming to fruition. Their meddling with human DNA had produced exactly the results they were after and the self-aware biological weapons made in their own image were even better than they could have hoped for. Ascended Newcomer Daniel Jackson was somewhat less enthused but they reasoned his hostility and bitterness over the situation was largely down to the fact that as one of the biological weapons, albeit more advanced than most apparently, he was bound to be more aggressive, belligerent and antagonistic than a regular Alteran.

For his part Daniel had already decided that with a few exceptions the Ancients were self-interested arrogant jerks with little sense of personal responsibility for the state they had left the universe in when they ascended. They talked of non-interference like it was noble instead of moral cowardice, they spent their time philosophising on trivial matters instead of doing anything remotely constructive. The majority treated him like a second-class citizen at best, because he wasn't truly one of them and needed Oma's help to ascend, and he suspected that the only reason they seemed to watch Earth with interest, or "Terra" as they called it in their own language, a precursor of Latin, was because they expected their meddled with "second evolution of our form" was going to get them a measure of vengeance on the enemies they had faced before they ran away from corporeal existence. The only positive Daniel could see there was that it meant they were still "human" enough to be petty which meant he might be able to talk a few more of them into helping out by holding up the carrot of screwing over the bitterly remembered "Ori" and "Wraith" a bit more, whoever the hell they were, nobody had bothered to explain properly yet.

Oh well, at least he could get a decent cup of coffee and a good slice of pie at the diner Oma had created from his memories. A sympathetic and unbelievably hot female ancient named Athar had dropped in yesterday to say hello, hopefully she'd accept his invite come back today too. Apparently lots of the others wouldn't talk to her either because of a past transgression so she had enjoyed the company as well it seemed. For Daniel it had been a nice change from Orlin gushing over how much he liked Sam anyway, it seemed you could never be too many millennia old to have a schoolboy crush and Daniel was only grateful he was in no position to pass on a note in class.

**Area 51 – Earth – June 2002**

'I can't believe she sat there, cut up his steak for him and expected to only eat whatever he left on his tray' Major Carter remarked as the four members of SG-1 stepped off the Aschen Transporter platform which had taken them from the SGC to Area 51 in an instant. The Aschen had supplied a dozen of the things so far in return for Tau'ri back-engineered goa'uld shields and weaponry and they certainly made getting around a lot quicker. Each of the eight X-COM bases worldwide, plus the SGC, Area 51 and Yamantau now had one with the last in storage waiting for detailed examination along with numerous other items of alien technology.

'I guess that's what she considers the right thing to do?' Colonel O'Neill supposed. 'Even when Maybourne put a tray of food in front of her and told her to eat it she wouldn't at first in case he wanted seconds' he said. 'The last thing he needs is seconds, I hope Doctor Fraser ordered him to drop a few pounds after she gave him a physical' O'Neill added.

They all showed their ID's to the guards waiting by the transporter platform, redundantly considering the only places they could have arrived from were just as Top Secret and secure as Area 51 anyway, and headed down the corridor towards the Research and Development Laboratories. 'The girl seems quite attached to Maybourne' Andianov remarked.

'She probably thinks that she'll be sold on to someone else if she doesn't make a show of it' Carter responded with a sigh.

'Given that unlike her prior owners Maybourne does not it seem starve her, or abuse her physically or sexually, her attitude is understandable' Teal'c reasoned. 'She likely believes that her servitude to Maybourne is as good a life as she can expect to lead and fears losing what she has.'

'Hey we all tried explaining that she was free, even Harry' O'Neill pointed out, 'she wasn't buying it' he said. 'I don't know if she was pretending to be fond of him or not but it seemed genuine.'

'Human slaves of the Goa'uld often become highly attached to their masters' Teal'c noted.

'Maybourne masqueraded as a trader not a god Teal'c' O'Neill replied.

'Nevertheless a small kindness can lead to devotion' Teal'c told him. 'A trusted slave granted better condition than his peers will often become sycophantic' he said. 'I have seen many Lo'taur behave as this Aikaterina does' he told them.

'Serf's in my own countries history were often highly loyal to the Tsarist aristocracy that in fact severely oppressed them' Andianov interjected. 'Many simply accept their place in society' she continued. 'Marx considered the peasantry as a group conservative at best, reactionary at worst' she noted. 'Revolutionary thought and action comes mainly from the middle-class bourgeoisie.'

'You're never going to lose all that commie brainwashing completely are you Sergeant?' O'Neill replied with a smile.

'It is deeply ingrained Comrade-Colonel' Andianov replied deadpan as they arrived at their destination, O'Neill opening the tall double-doors to the lab and going through first followed by Carter. 'Holy Crap!' he exclaimed as an eight foot tall armoured behemoth lunged at him.

'Jennifer please refrain from doing that to everyone that walks in' Zelenka chided the bulky suit of armour, appearing from behind it. 'Colonel O'Neill, Samantha welcome back to Area 51' he greeted them. 'Teal'c, Sergeant' he added. 'I was sorry to hear of the lost of Daniel Jackson' he added.

'He's not _lost_, lost' O'Neill replied, 'we just don't know where he is' he said before his eyes widened and he fixed his gaze on the suit. 'Jennifer?' he repeated loudly.

A face plate slid up on the head on the thing and a familiar face appeared. 'Colonel O'Neill' it greeted him, trying to keep a straight face.

'Cadet Hailey' O'Neill responded, narrowing his eyes.

'_Lieutenant_ Hailey Sir' the girl replied. 'I just graduated the Airforce Academy this month' she told him. 'Immediately assigned to Area 51 until I can get a transfer sorted out to the SGC' she told him brightly.

'Jennifer has been helping with our ongoing Powered Armour project' Zelenka told SG-1. 'Her knowledge of both military matters and physics has already been a godsend' he announced.

'And for the first time of my life... I'm tall!' Lieutenant Hailey declared with a grin, taking a step backwards so they could get a good look.

'Okay, I admit it' O'Neill began. 'I'm officially impressed' he told Zelenka looking the suit of Powered Armour over.

'Two and a half centimetres of laminated armour' Zelenka explained, pointing at the suit, 'Trinium-Titanium alloy like the SGC Iris over advanced ceramics and sectoid alloys' he enthused. 'Stop a Heavy Plasma bolt or a Staff-Cannon blast' he told them happily. 'Naquadah powerplant that allows for weeks of continual use, drastically enhanced physical strength, sealed against Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare environmental hazards it can also be safely used in the vacuum of space' he continued, 'plus it includes a full suite of sensors with a head-up display.'

'It projects targeting data onto the inside of the helmet visor like in an F-302' Hailey told them. 'You've got night-vision plus zoom' she added.

'Can it fly?' O'Neill joked.

'Not this model but the follow-up design will include an auxiliary elerium powerplant that gives limited flight ability' Zelenka replied seriously. 'You will be able to take off and hover in the air for a restricted time, perhaps twenty or thirty minutes of use before the elerium fuel-cell is exhausted' he said.

Colonel O'Neill looked at the Czech scientist incredulously 'You're kidding?' he asked.

'No' Zelenka denied. 'A planned third model will also include both a personal force field and cloaking device running off the naquadah reactor but that may be unavailable for at least eighteen months or so' he told him. 'The team working on the personal force-field function of the hand device recovered from Marduk's ziggurat are currently both stretched by other projects and underfunded so it may be longer than that however' he said regretfully.

'How easy is it to use Lieutenant?' Andianov asked Lieutenant Hailey.

'It takes a lot of practice not to smash everything to pieces when you walk around a room' Hailey replied. 'And I still can't pick up an orange without it exploding so best not shake hands' she continued. 'The servo's give me plenty of power, I can run and jump in this thing and there's cracks in the concrete floor to prove the latter, but fine control isn't happening' she said regretfully.

'We don't want these things to play nice with the enemy Lieutenant' O'Neill responded, 'we want these things to put the hurt on them with' he said.

'Oh they'll do that Sir' Hailey replied, outstretching a hand and picking up a thick steel bar which she then bent effortlessly in both hands 'It's like wearing a mighty-malp' she said.

Carter smiled at the young officers enthusiasm. 'It's amazing you've got the project this far so fast' she told Zelenka.

Zelenka shrugged. 'Much of the preliminary work was already underway when it was shelved in favour of the F-302 program' he said. 'We merely dusted off the initial research, upgraded what was there with more recent advances made in other fields and here we have it' he said. 'Examination of the cybernetics of both the Altairan androids and the remains of so-called Sectopod robots we have occasionally encountered operating with Loki's Ethereals on larger ships, helped perfect the design' he noted.

'So when are we getting them?' O'Neill wanted to know.

'Now that the prototype is nearing the end of it's testing the first production units are due to start coming off the line next month but they are already assigned to the sectoid war' Zelenka told him apologetically. 'Muton's are considered a more serious threat to our soldiers in the field than Jaffa' he explained. 'It may be a while before the SGC is equipped with our Powered Armour suits.'

O'Neill put a friendly hand on Zelenka's shoulder and leaned in. 'How about one accidentally gets left off a manifest and delivered to the wrong base, or is maybe deliberately sent to the SGC for special testing?' he suggested quietly.

'Special testing in what?' Zelenka queried, narrowing his eyes.

'Help me out here Major' O'Neill requested, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

'Extremely harsh environments we don't get on Earth' Carter thought up quickly. 'Like... the heat on P9Q-281' she said, trying to think of an appropriate planet, 'or the extreme cold on KS7-535.'

'Extreme cold' O'Neill repeated sagely, nodding his head.

'The SGC sends operations to planets with toxic atmospheres, sometimes no atmosphere, all the time' Carter pointed out.

'No atmosphere' O'Neill repeated her again in a serious tone.

'The prototype is nearly done with testing here' Lieutenant Hailey noted. 'It could probably do with a few weeks field testing too' she said, 'of course the SGC would need somebody that could show them how to use and maintain it' she added sweetly.

'Somebody that coincidentally wants a transfer to the SGC perhaps?' O'Neill responded.

'Works out well for all concerned' Hailey replied, 'I mean hypothetically' she added.

'Except what exactly do I get out of this given that it would be me signing the documentation?' Zelenka asked.

'Well I've got some pull in the Airforce, I know some people, can call in a few favours, how would you like a chance to head up the X-COM personnel assigned to the Prometheus project?' O'Neill asked.

'McKay is already spoken of as being given that job' Zelenka replied.

'Ah but McKay isn't well liked by, well lets face it, by pretty much anyone that's ever met him' O'Neill responded. 'Factor in some positive waves about a Doctor Radek Zelenka coming from the USAF side and things could very well go your way.'

'McKay would be livid' Zelenka said. 'It is a highly prestigious program to be on, let alone head-up' he continued. 'Perhaps it would teach him humility' he pondered, 'it would be good for him' he opined.

'Character building for him, career building for you, everyone's a winner' O'Neill declared.

'Field testing for the Powered Armour prototype in hostile environments' Zelenka said, 'a totally logical next step don't you agree Jennifer' he asked the young officer in the armoured suit.

'Totally the way to go' Lieutenant Hailey agreed wholeheartedly.

'General Hammond asked us to check up on Jonas before the lecture Sir' Carter reminded her commanding officer.

'Right' O'Neill agreed, 'we'll be back later' he told Zelenka. 'Lieutenant if you can get out of that thing you're welcome to join us in the good seats for the lecture.'

'The good seats Sir?' Hailey asked.

'Major Carter will be at the front asking questions you can have my seat next to her, I'll be at the back trying not to fall asleep when they go all technical on us' O'Neill replied.

Carter frowned. 'Sir the Avenger Class Corvette will not only fill the transport role of the Tel'tak and Skyranger but also the combat role of the Al'kesh' she said. 'It'll be shielded, heavily armed, hyperspace capable and capable of a wide variety of missions' she said.

'It's the way they always feel the need to explain how everything works instead of just saying "small multi-role warship and tactical transport, big guns, goes fast" that gets to me Carter' O'Neill countered. 'I just don't need to _know_ more than that' he said honestly.

Carter sighed, she really should have given up on the hope he'd develop a sense of scientific curiosity years ago she decided as they headed for another lab in the underground complex.

Jonas Quinn was sat in an examination chair being scanned and tested by two other extra-terrestrials, both of whom everyone referred to as "she" but neither of which was actually female in the strictest sense of the word. The truly alien looking one was the first Asgard he had ever met, a scientist named Heimdall who was using a piece of advanced technology to look into his body somehow, the other was externally a quite attractive woman but underneath the surface she was a Goa'uld war-criminal named Nirrti now working as forced intellectual labour for the Earth humans that had captured her.

Heimdall and Nirrti were the most knowledgeable geneticists on the planet, and had inexorably found themselves working together as they investigated other captured aliens, usually those created by the renegade Asgard Loki. They mutually despised each other on principle but had both reached the conclusion that they got much better results if they cooperated and tried to maintain a civil working relationship.

'Ouch' Jonas exclaimed as Nirrti stuck a needle in his arm to take another blood sample. The fourth person in the room, a guard always on hand to watch Nirrti reached for his sidearm before Jonas could indicate he wasn't badly hurt whereupon the guard resumed looking bored.

'Your hand-eye coordination is as clumsy as your scientific methods' Heimdall told the Goa'uld. 'This subject is not a hostile prisoner and should be treated with care not carelessly stabbed' she said.

Nirrti scowled at Heimdall, stuck-up Asgard bitch, she thought. 'Perhaps if you got your own hands dirty with these menial tasks sometimes you would be in a position to criticise' she said.

'The simple tasks are best undertaken by the simpler minds' Heimdall retorted.

'You know every time I cut open a Sectoid to examine it I imagine it's you' Nirrti declared, placing the blood sample in one of the highly advanced genetic screening devices Heimdall had arrived on Earth with.

'Given the physiological differences I imagine only a scientist with a third-rate grasp on anatomy could so easily mistake my people for the creations of Loki' Hemidall replied. 'The internal differences are even greater than the obvious external changes of grossly increased musculature.'

'Clone' Nirrti hissed at the Asgard.

'Parasite' Heimdall threw back.

'Ladies, _please_' Colonel O'Neill said with amusement, walking in after he'd stood outside the door listening for a few moments.

'I am not female and neither technically is the goa'uld inhabiting the female host Colonel O'Neill' Hemidall pointed out. 'It is however a pleasure to see you again' the Asgard added politely.

'Nice to see you too Hemidall' O'Neill replied with a smile, 'not managed to get yourself shot trying to escape yet then?' he asked Nirrti. 'Pity' he added.

'SG-1, my day is complete' the Goa'uld said bitterly as they entered. 'No Daniel Jackson?' she queried. 'No of course not, he's gone' she said with a smirk.

'Ascended' Teal'c responded, directing a harsh look at the fallen false god.

'With considerable help no doubt given that he was genetically far too primitive to do so himself' Nirrti replied, still wearing the smirk. 'He was not even as advanced as my creation Cassandra' she said, still working, looking at the display on the machine she had put Jonas Quinn's blood into. 'Or this individual' she added, eyes widening as she looked from the display to the man himself.

'Much evidence of genetic drift from regular Earth stock since his ancestors were taken from here by the Goa'uld?' Hemidall queried.

'Considerable' Nirrti confirmed, 'to the extent of having several genetic markers I would characterise as being of Hok'taur stock' she said.

'Sorry?' Jonas asked in confusion.

'Hok'taur' Major Carter repeated, 'it means "Advanced Human" in Goa'uld' she explained.

Heimdall checked the results. 'Your genetic profile indicates several genes associated with strong psionic potential' she told Jonas. 'We are familiar with them since they are the ones Loki has been introducing into his Ethereal and more mentally advanced Sectoid troops.'

'My IQ tested out well above average for this planet too, I mean it tested out higher than average back home too but not _that_ far above' Jonas noted. 'I mean I was considered a quick study for Kelowna but...'

'You are more advanced than the humans of this planet' Hemidall told him. 'It is likely that your people are simply a few steps further along the evolutionary path due to a genetic quirk and long isolation.'

'Interesting' Nirrti said, reaching over and stroking his hair, an act that frightened the crap out of him. He had been warned that the Goa'uld had a habit of "vamping" men to try and get something from them. She's only interested in your DNA, he told himself hurriedly.

'He should be tested for psionic strength and skill level immediately' Heimdall suggested. 'In addition some of his genes may be useful in my own work.'

'Still trying to splice together a hybrid that you can download an Asgard consciousness into?' Nirrti asked. 'I might be able to help you know' she offered.

'Or sabotage the entire project' Heimdall replied knowingly.

'Did the captured Sectoid Commander help there?' Carter asked out of academic interest. 'I've read reports that say it was far more intellectually capable than the ones we've seen before.'

'Yes Major Carter although I have only had limited access to it so far' Heimdall replied sadly. 'Because the X-COM hierarchy does not know when, if ever, it might capture such a high-ranking officer again they are being very cautious and methodical in their interrogations for risk of harming it' the Asgard explained. 'It may be a while before I am given the opportunity to examine it properly in depth' Heimdall added.

'Gentle persuasion and less extreme methods before they go for the mind-rape and hand over what's left of its brain to our Asgard buddies I guess' O'Neill reasoned.

'Makes sense, we're holding Loki's people back pretty well with all the F-302's we've got now so it's not like we need information urgently, better to find out everything we possibly can' Carter agreed.

'And once we know all we can we'll kick their little grey butts right out of the Solar System' O'Neill declared. 'No offence' he told Heimdall, remembering the company he was in.

'None taken' the Asgard replied diplomatically. What could you expect from a hairy primate anyhow?

**Desert - Vorash – June 2002**

'So I guess nobody else wanted this piece of prime real-estate after the Tok'ra moved out' Colonel Jack O'Neill observed, looking at the dunes and kicking up some sand.

'Indeed' Teal'c agreed. 'There are far more hospitable worlds than less which are equally vacant' he noted. 'The reason why the Tok'ra built a base here in the first place was likely because any passing ship of Jaffa Squad arriving through the gate would be unlikely to recommend to their superiors it was worth absorbing into the domain of even the most Minor Goa'uld' he said.

'Well it reduces the chances for collateral damage if things turn nasty Sir and the Tok'ra left their surface set of rings behind, so it's ideal for this exchange' Carter pointed out. 'SG-2 is keeping the gate permanently dialled to another empty planet we can escape to if necessary and Anubis can ring his people down here.'

O'Neill looked up. 'So how many motherships do you think Anubis will have up there?' he asked.

'He's still too stretched militarily by the war with Apophis to send a fleet, two or three tops I'd say' Carter reasoned.

'Think he'll try and screw us?' O'Neill asked tongue placed firmly in cheek

'As soon as he's got the Eye he'll bombard the area around the stargate from orbit most likely' Carter replied. 'Turn all the sand within a couple of klicks of the gate to glass.'

O'Neill looked around. 'It would raise the price of land by a few bucks an acre anyhow' he replied before turning to Andianov. 'If this goes all to hell I expect those enemy Jaffa to die well before I do Sergeant' he told her, and preferably _only_ them' he added.

'Of course Sir' the Russian replied, sighting her rifle on some feature in the distance. As well as sand there were a few worn stone outcroppings around that sufficed.

'They should be arriving any second according to the timetable we sent Anubis via Baal and the Tok'ra' O'Neill said, checking his watch just as the rings activated, 'prompt little bastards' he said, watching them rise from the ground 'I admire punctuality in a fake god and his minions' he declared.

A flash inside the rings formed into a group of four Jaffa surrounding a fifth, each one armed with a zat'nik'tel and already pointing it. They knew they were in fact more effective against the warriors of Earth than the technically more powerful Staff Weapons because of the blast resistant armour the Tau'ri wore and they could also be pre-aimed and ready to fire on arrival.

'Hey guys' O'Neill greeted them, 'I'm not seeing an Asgard with you' he said in mock surprise.

'You will hand over the Eye now' the leader of the Jaffa ordered. He wore the symbol of Anubis on his forehead like the others but it was cast silver indicating although not a First Prime he was fairly senior.

'Perhaps you need to check the definition of "exchange" in your dictionary' O'Neill replied. 'What's the word for exchange in Goa'uld Teal'c?' he asked turning to his own Jaffa companion.

'I do not wish to hear anything from the shol'va, order him to remain silent' the lead Jaffa interrupted.

'You know as a rule it's getting him to talk, not stay silent, that's the tricky part' O'Neill observed. 'He's laconic' he added. 'Okay let's get this straight, no Thor, no Eye of Tiamat' he stated.

The Jaffa leader sneered. 'Hand it over or die' he commanded.

'Okay, something you need to be made aware of is that buried in the sand not ten yards from where you're standing is one of our damn ingenious nuclear demolition charges' O'Neill told the Jaffa, 'I'm sure you've heard of them, we've been using the things to blow the Jaffa working for Apophis all to hell for a while now' he said. 'You start shooting, and you, the Eye, and ourselves, will need even stronger sunblock that we're already wearing because we're at ground zero.'

'He is bluffing' one of the other Jaffa told his commander.

'Getting killed by a point-blank nuke doesn't hurt one iota' O'Neill responded, 'getting captured by a System Lord and being tortured to death by pain sticks sounds a lot worse to me' he said. 'Which way would you go if you had the choice?' he asked them.

The Jaffa Officer opened his mouth to respond then thought about it some more, yes given the choice instant atomisation was clearly the better alternative he decided. 'Very well we will make the trade' he said. Anubis did not think he could gain much more from the Asgard prisoner anyway, every time he tried the computer he connected to its brain had to be deactivated because Thor's mind hijacked the damn thing. The holographic and transporter beam technology was already in itself well worth the trouble taken to capture the Asgard, and the Eye was deemed far more valuable than a largely catatonic and wilfully stubborn short grey alien.

'Good, now we're talking' O'Neill said brightly. 'Okay ring down my old buddy Thor and I'll give you the Eye' he said.

'Put the Eye in my hand first' the senior Jaffa insisted, his troops backing up his request by brandishing their weapons even more dramatically.

'Hey you've got ships up there that can blow me all to hell' O'Neill remarked, '_I'm_ the one in danger of getting shafted here guys' he said. 'Okay you all step well away from the rings so you can't try a quick snatch, grab and getaway, and lower those zats, and I'll _show_ you the Eye' he offered.

'Agreed' the lead Jaffa replied and he and his four companions complied after which they watched the infamous Tau'ri O'Neill walk towards a non-descript point in the sand bend down a dig up a cloth wrapped object which he unwrapped to show them. 'The Eye of Tiamat' the Jaffa said with a smile. 'My Lord will be pleased.'

'I don't suppose you could let us know why he wants this damn thing could you?' O'Neill asked hopefully. 'I mean we're curious as hell right Carter?' he asked his Second In Command.

'Right Sir' Carter confirmed.

'It is none of your business' the Jaffa told him.

'Anubis didn't bother to tell you either huh?' O'Neill decided.

The Jaffa frowned, good guess by the human. 'The business of a god is of no concern to a mortal' he said defensively.

'I guess Anubis practices mushroom management' O'Neill told his troops. 'Keep 'em in the dark and feed 'em shit' he said. 'Skippy here is out of the loop' he added. 'Guess he's not even middle-management.'

The Jaffa Officer growled. 'My position is high in the Jaffa ranks loyal to Anubis' he declared.

'Yeah and the Security Guard on the front desk runs the Corporation' O'Neill replied with a grin. 'Okay I've shown you mine now you show me yours' he said. 'And don't go thinking I'll put the Eye in the rings and expect it to swap places with Thor in there' he continued. 'I don't trust you people an inch to hold up your end of the bargain' he said flatly.

Talking a small spherical communication device from inside his uniform the Jaffa activated it. 'Send down the casket with the Asgard inside' he said.

'Casket?' O'Neill repeated, 'I hope he's not dead because if he is then the deal's off' he announced.

'The Asgard is alive' the Jaffa replied as the rings activated again, rising from the ground and then descending once more absolutely nothing appearing inside them.

O'Neill fixed the Lead Jaffa with a glare. 'Very funny' he said.

Looking confused the Jaffa activated his communication device again. 'Where is the Asgard?' he asked.

'_A Tel'tak decloaked and intercepted the matter stream_' the device announced. '_We have ordered it to surrender or be destroyed, it is trying to escape but cannot outrun our Deathgliders and Al'kesh will pursue if tries to escape in hyperspace_.'

'Betrayal!' the lead Jaffa howled and pointed his zat'nik'tel at O'Neill.

'_Ha'tak ships are dropping out of hyperspace_' the voice on the device declared. '_They are the new vessels of Apophis_' it declared. '_The Tel'tak is fleeing towards them_.'

'Nice try but I ain't buying it' O'Neill told the Jaffa. 'Send down the Asgard or I'll set off the nuke' he said coldly.

'If this is a trick, it is of _your_ doing' the Jaffa declared with certainty, 'the deceitful tactics of the Tau'ri are well known' he stated.

'You dumb bastard' O'Neill retorted, 'you were about to send down the Asgard, if _we_ were going to fuck you over we'd have intercepted the Eye going back the other way _after_ we got Thor' O'Neill retorted. Suddenly Staff-Weapon fire started hurtling over head. 'Get down' he yelled throwing himself to the ground as bolts of plasma seared overhead, everyone else doing likewise.

'Serpent Guards' Andianov yelled out, firing her rifle at the first familiar helmet shape that appeared in sight before anyone else could, the enemy Jaffa dropping back out of sight. 'Got one' she added.

'You jerks' O'Neill screamed at the Jaffa who had come down via the ring earlier, 'you let Apophis find out about the trade' he howled, starting to fire back towards the enemy.

'We did not' the Lead Jaffa responded. 'It must have been a traitor in your ranks' he declared.

'_We are fighting the Ha'tak of Apophis, we are outnumbered_' the communication device declared. '_Our Al'kesh are under fire, they cannot pursue the Tel'tak_.'

'We are also under attack from the troops of Apophis on the planet' the Jaffa told his friends high above.

'The Jaffa have a saying O'Neill' Teal'c called over. 'Misery loves company' he said, earning the nodded agreement of the Jaffa loyal to Anubis who had more important things to worry about right now than the shol'va.

'We're pinned down, SG-3 we need you right now' Carter yelled into her radio.

New figures appeared from nowhere and began firing at the Serpent Guards, catching them in a crossfire and forcing them to retreat.

'What is going on?' one of Anubis's Jaffa exclaimed.

'We had troops hidden out there ready to spring an ambush if you tried anything' he said. 'Apophis must have landed his own men in a cloaked cargo ship and then placed it to intercept the rings.'

'Give me the Eye' the lead Jaffa commanded. 'You may have lost your goal but...'

'Don't bother it's a fake we made up' O'Neill told him almost apologetically, we were going to screw you too' he admitted. 'The only guy that comes out ahead today is Apophis' he declared bitterly as the firing died down around them. 'We're getting the hell out of here, I suggest you do the same' he advised.

'We would have sacanned it and learned of your deception quickly, vengeance would have been swift' the Jaffa told him. The Tau'ri were clearly stupider than he had been led to believe if they thought such a simple ruse would have worked.

One of the other Jaffa pointed a zat'nik'tel at O'Neill. 'You will not get away Tau'ri gonach' he vowed.

'Aw for crying out loud the last thing any of us need right now is a firefight amongst ourselves, the day sucks enough already' O'Neill moaned.

'Lower your weapons, we are outnumbered here and must survive to report this to Lord Anubis ourselves if the Ha'tak and Al'kesh are lost in battle' the Lead Jaffa ordered his men.

'I'm guessing _he's_ not up for promotion' O'Neill asked the Jaffa Officer, pointing at the other one who had aimed a weapon at him. 'At least _you've_ got some brains' he added. 'So in that dictionary what's the Goa'uld for "clusterfuck" because that's what _this_ is' he told him.

'My Lord Anubis will still want the Eye of Tiamat' the Lead Jaffa told O'Neill as they both got up from the ground and dusted themselves off.

'We'll trade something else for it if you want it so badly, you know how to get in touch' O'Neill offered. 'You gate out, we'll strip what we can from the Serpent Guards we've killed and head home ourselves.'

'Yes I have heard you Tau'ri scavenge from the dead like vultures' the Jaffa responded with distaste.

'Better hurry, your boss is going to want to know that Apophis might be playing with some Asgard tech soon, I guess that's what he's aiming for anyhow' O'Neill told the Jaffa. 'Stargate is that way' he said pointing in its direction.

'The next time we meet I will kill you' The Jaffa told him, turning to leave, the others following.

'I guess you flunked out of Jaffa charm school' O'Neill called after him, watching them trudge through the sand as they eventually disappeared out of sight.

'Sir we really need to get out of here before they realise what the hell just happened' Carter told him.

'For Christ's sake Sergeant you nearly blew my head off' a Serpent Guard announced appearing from behind a sand-dune activating the mechanism that unfolded the helmet away.

'I am sorry Commander, if my shot had missed by too much it would not have looked convincing' Andianov told Sharp.

'Looks like the Tel'tak got away clean according to its last transmission Sir' Carter interjected. 'I guess the identification codes we got for Apophis's Fleet were right because they let it go thinking it was one of their own advanced scouts sent to confirm the presence of Anubis's ships.'

Sharp looked up at the fireworks in orbit. 'They're kicking each others asses up there' he said happily.

'Think everything else is going to work?' O'Neill asked. 'I mean we might have lured Apophis into supporting our cover story by leaking the position of a few enemy ships ripe for the picking but after that...'

'By now the Tok'ra will have told Baal that Apophis has committed his reserves out here to the Vorash on the edge of his territory and you know that opportunistic bastard will immediately throw everything he has at Apophis while he's got a free hand' Sharp replied.

'So Baal comes out ahead' Carter said, 'oh well at least we stuck it to Anubis and Apophis in one fell swoop' she said happily.

'With luck we got Baal good too' O'Neill corrected her. 'We knew from the Tok'ra he's got a secret weapons research facility one of their operatives named Kanan found out about... of course we told Lord Yu it belongs to _Apophis_ so he's on his way to attack it, hopefully he'll shoot first and ask questions later' he said with a grin. 'Even if he doesn't bombard it he'll _still_ be monumentally pissed at Baal for not sharing advanced tech with his supposed allies.'

'You know when they all figure out what happened...' Carter began.

'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it' Sharp replied, 'then nuke it afterwards with a naquadah-enhanced elerium grenade so they can't follow us' he added. 'The beer's on me people' he announced.

'Canadian beer?' O'Neill queried suspiciously.

'There's other types of beer worthy of the name produced on the North American continent?' Sharp asked in apparent mystification.

'Well if it's free I suppose I can stomach it' O'Neill decided, looking up at the fighting still going on far overhead. 'Maybourne, you are _definitely_ the man' he said in salute.

* * *

_**NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:**_

_Fortunately for the Tollan they have some breathing space before Anubis comes calling, his fleet is still tied down by the war with Apophis for the most part. Obtaining back-engineered Tau'ri versions of Goa'uld heavy weapons is a useful stop-gap while they come up with something better to defend themselves with. I thought an interlude with Daniel in the ascended planes would be a nice touch. The diner Oma created for him was featured in episode 8:18 __Threads__ when he was deciding whether or not to ascend for a second time (it was mentioned it existed the first time too). __Athar__ was an ascended Lantian Ancient featured in episode 1:14 __Sanctuary__ of Stargate Atlantis. Like __Oma__ and __Orlin__ she was punished by the other Ascended Ancients for "interfering", helping out regular unascended humans and protecting them, I figured she would likely be one of the few ascended Daniel would get on with (most seemed to be jerks)._

_Both the alien-tech derived Avenger Fighter-Transport and Powered Armour were in service well before this point in the X-COM Timeline, their introduction was delayed here by more pressing research and production priorities. The Avenger (which looks in the game __cover artwork__ a lot like a small X-303/304 incidentally) is large enough to be fitted with a Tel'tak sized hyperdrive so I saw it as likely to be designed to fill several roles not just a replacement for the Skyranger Troop Transport. With lightweight trinium alloys and naquadah generators for power available I see the XSGCOM version of the original X-COM Powered Armour suit being more heavily armoured and able to resist a little more punishment (still far from invulnerable to a Heavy Plasma Rifle though). Jonas Quinn was canonically further along the evolutionary path than the average Tau'ri, and it was Nirrti that discovered this in the show too (episode 6:16 __Metamorphosis__). In XSGCOM that genetic gift pans out to high Psi skill and strength, Jonas is a less developed Hok'taur, "Cassie Light" if you will._

_Unlike when they came to __Vorash__ in the series the Ha'tak of Apophis don't get a stargate-induced supernova in the face this time, they're just pawns in Maybourne's game. Intercepting a matter stream by placing a Tel'tak between two sets of rings was done a few times in the show. Anubis Ha'taks did detect a cloaked Tel'tak ship in episode 6:02, when there were large numbers of Ha'tak in orbit around a world it approached, but didn't in episode 5:22 when there was only two of them, I'm assuming that like tracking a Stealth Fighter there's a degree of luck (and number of scanners) involved in finding it. They were still using cloaked Tel'taks at the end of the series when the tech used by Anubis was in wide-spread use so the cloak was presumably still useful. __Kanan__ the Tok'ra and his infiltration of Baal's secret R&D base was featured in episode 6:06 __Abyss__, Lord Yu did attack it in the show when he found out about it so I thought why not here too._

_Considerably more readers have XSGCOM set as a favourite story, or have chosen to get a notification when a new chapter appears, than any of the rest of my Fics. Perhaps they might review occasionally as well... that would be very considerate of them ;-)_


	27. Chapter 27

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2002**

Sitting forward in his chair, hands together on his desk General Hammond was clearly not in a good mood, in fact the expression on his face was such that O'Neill didn't even attempt to make light of the situation, well not as much as usual anyhow. 'Colonel are you intent on working your way through every archaeologist and linguist on the staff until we can't find a single one that either you'll work with, or will work with you?' he asked flatly.

'Hey, Captain Mathison only lasting two hours wasn't my fault George' O'Neill protested, and 'Hagman being unconscious in the infirmary is entirely down to him not doing his job properly on P2X-374' O'Neill defended himself.

'And Doctor Lewis only the day before yesterday?' Hammond asked.

'Sergeant Andianov was the one that broke his jaw Sir and for one I don't buy his story that he only put his hand there to help her up that slope either' O'Neill replied. 'And she was professional enough to only deck him when we got back to the SGC so I thought not putting her up on a charge was the right thing to do' he said. Watching Lewis hit the ramp in a heap barely two seconds after stepping out the gate had been pretty entertaining to watch in any case, he did have a creepy vibe about him, Carter mentioned it too.

Hammond began drumming his fingers on his desk. 'Given the number of personnel already reluctant in the extreme to join SG-1 because they know how many missions you've undertaken which by rights you should never have returned alive from I've got to tell you Colonel you're this close to getting assigned another member of X-COM because they're the only ones crazy or masochistic enough to do it' he said.

O'Neill groaned. 'Couldn't I give Major Pressman another go?' he asked. 'Doctor Fraser says the limp is only temporary and...'

'The Major seems less than keen for a reprise' Hammond interrupted.

'Really?' O'Neill asked in surprise. 'I thought we all hit it off pretty well, I mean even Teal'c swapped a couple of sentences with him and that's unheard of for a new guy because he's been my friend for years and we can still go weeks without...'

'I sincerely doubt that Major Pressman would be interested in undertaking another mission with SG-1' Hammond interrupted again.

'Two measly firefights and they up and quit on you' Colonel O'Neill complained.

'Within the space of a single four hour mission to a supposedly deserted planet' Hammond pointed out, 'and it was _three_ firefights according to the mission reports' he noted.

'I didn't count the third one because they barely got a shot off before Teal'c and Andianov flanked them and they ran off' O'Neill responded. 'I guess they just don't make Jaffa like they used to' he added. 'I think we've already killed off a lot of the really brave or really dumb ones' he reasoned.

'Face it Colonel, for whatever reason SG-1 is a trouble magnet and that's just not attractive to a fair percentage of our staff' Hammond told him.

'Anybody that wouldn't want to come along with us and do what we do is whacked' O'Neill declared with sincerity. It was the greatest job in the world, he thought, visiting other worlds, learning from ancient and wise cultures, encountering advanced civilisations and when that got dull, which it tended to pretty quick, there was always the shooting at people who really deserved to be shot at which never got old and gave you a warm glow of job satisfaction every day.

General Hammond sat back in his chair. 'Jack we both know that the problem is you're trying to replace Doctor Jackson...'

'There is no "replacing" Daniel' O'Neill interrupted, he figured it was his turn. 'I'm filling a spot on the team and if I have to have a socio-political nerd along I need someone that I think can do the job well enough not to interfere too much with our overwhelming coolness' he said.

'I'm perfectly willing to assign someone to you and not take no for an answer if it comes to that' Hammond told him. 'Neither you nor they having any choice in the matter' he added. 'I'll give you a week to find your own number five and after that you take what you're given' he said with finality.

O'Neill sighed. 'Maybe I could put up a recruiting poster in the canteen, poach someone halfway decent from another team... that guy Ferretti recruited for his new crew now he's back in the game bossing SG-2 sounded okay.'

'Somehow I don't think Lieutenant-Colonel Ferretti will be too happy about that... so if it happens I knew nothing about it whatsoever in advance' Hammond told him. It would be a great deal easier to put someone new on SG-2 than find someone else for SG-1 if it panned out that way.

'You knew nothing about _what_ Sir?' O'Neill asked in mock confusion.

'Perfect' Hammond told him. 'Did you finish reading the latest intelligence updates about the fall-out from Maybourne's little hustle?' he asked, changing the subject.

'Not only did I read it, I re-read it Sir' O'Neill replied. 'Laughed all the way through lunch' he said.

'I thought somehow you'd appreciate it' Hammond told him with a chuckle.

'We got the Asgard, _and_ kept the Amulet, Apophis and Anubis both lost ships and we think Yu flattened half of Ba'als main research base before he realised he was bombing an ally' O'Neill recalled happily. 'Even better Anubis thinks Ba'al was involved because he's such an infamously scheming bastard so those two aren't on good terms any more' he continued. 'Ba'al thinks it must have been all down to the Tok'ra, because he underestimates us but he _knows_ those guys are sneaky, so we've driven a wedge in there too' he said, 'which I like because Ba'al and the Tok'ra were getting to friendly for my liking' he said then looked thoughtful. 'I think Maybourne might be touched by genius somehow, if he goes over to the other side we need a contingency plan to assassinate him straight away before he sets himself up as a new System Lord with Earth as his capital' he said. 'He's already got the sycophantic slave-girl to fit the super-villain persona' O'Neill noted.

'I'm still not completely convinced I did the right thing letting her go with him when he returned to his day job' Hammond remarked.

'Hey _everyone_ tried to talk her out of it, even Maybourne, but she just wanted to stick with the devious SOB' O'Neill replied. 'The worst thing is now she knows he's really a secret agent working against the Goa'uld she thinks he's cool and heroic too' he said. 'You know if the SGC went public I'm sure a couple of single guys like us would be up to our eyes in hero-worshipping females' he said wistfully.

'It never occurred' Hammond told him, not exactly truthfully, they might all him the old man but he wasn't _that_ old. 'It's a shame Thor was in a coma, the Asgard think Anubis must have used some new technology to rip information from his mind' the General observed sadly.

'Hack' O'Neill responded with a snort, 'our guys rip information out of alien's minds all the time and we don't end up turning them into vegetables' he declared. 'Yeah it's a real pity about Thor' he agreed wholeheartedly, 'I always liked that little guy' he continued, 'a lot more than most people I've ever known to be honest, human people I mean' he said. It was surprising somehow but although they were a race of physically identical clones the Asgard had such a wide range of different personalities. Thor was pretty cool in his opinion, Heimdall had a peppy enthusiasm that made her likeable, Freyr was kinda an officious jerk but no more than a lot of political types tended to be and Loki was a ruthless, evil asshole which made him no worse than the worse humanity had to show for itself. 'I hope the Asgard can fix him up, they've got some kick-ass medical technology' he stated from experience. 'I once saw them bring you back to life after a Jaffa hit you twice with a Zat' he said. 'Parallel universe' he explained.

'I've formally passed on our wishes to the Asgard High Council for Thor to make a speedy recovery and offered any help we might be able to offer' Hammond told him, 'not that I think that's likely given how much more advanced they are than us' he said. 'The Tok'ra say they've no idea what Anubis might have used, it goes way beyond any mind-interface technology the Goa'uld have ever had before.'

'Where does he get those wonderful toys?' O'Neill asked rhetorically. 'If he's got himself some Asgard gadgets now too we could be in serious trouble if he starts looking in our direction' he said.

'Commander Sharp and myself thought the same thing which is why as soon as we can get in contact with all our off-world strike teams we're ending operations against Apophis' Hammond told him.

O'Neill grinned. 'Without us screwing with his supply lines he can get his logistics running properly again, thin out his garrisons and send them back to the front line and...'

'Give Anubis something more important to deal with than us' Hammond finished the sentence. 'My idea' he added.

'And it's a good one George' O'Neill told his superior. 'It'll be a dark day when we're at the top of the hit list as opposed to being an irritating pain in the ass' he said. 'So does this mean we get to hit any Goa'uld we want again?' he asked hopefully. 'Targets of opportunity, no more unfairly picking on poor old Apophis?'

'That's the plan' Hammond told him.

'Great because hitting Serpent Guards and Sokar's old boys has been getting samey' O'Neill replied. 'There's a whole lot of System Lords and pissant minor Goa'ulds that still haven't had the pleasure of meeting us properly' he said. 'I think Ba'al deserves a visit, he's been getting off light till now and maybe we should introduce Anubis to some of _our_ new technology as well' O'Neill declared.

'The Tok'ra still regard Apophis as the major threat given his continued superiority in shipbuilding' Hammond told him. 'They may not agree with our change in targets so we might lose the use of their cloaked Tel'tacs for sabotage and hit and run raids' he said.

'It was fun while it lasted I guess, and we do still have that bucket of bolts they sold us if we ever need a cloaked ship for a special mission' O'Neill replied with a shrug. 'We've always worked to our own agendas, they've just coincided for a while but it's not like I expected it to last forever.'

'I know you've always had a few reservations regarding the Tok'ra but we're still allies Colonel' Hammond reminded him.

'Yeah, but I like it now we're allies on much more even terms Sir' O'Neill responded. 'It's the getting talked down to that grated you know?'

'I know exactly how you feel Colonel' Hammond agreed. 'At least these days people like the Tok'ra and the Tollan take us more seriously' he said. 'It makes negotiating with them a lot more pleasant when they aren't being condescending... or less condescending.'

'General, I look forward to the day when we get to spend an entire meeting patronising the crap out of _them_' O'Neill told him.

'Son, that thought keeps staving off my retirement for another year' Hammond replied.

**Yamantau – Russia – July 2002**

Jonas Quinn looked around. 'So is there only one architect that designs secret underground military bases on this entire planet?' he asked quizzically looking around.

Carter smiled. 'Military functionality' she said. 'Area 51, Yamantau, Cheyenne Mountain, any of the X-COM bases, they're all just concrete, steel doors and exposed piping and airducts' she told him. 'I prefer our colour scheme to this habit the Russians have of painting everything the same shade of green though' she added as they stepped off the Aschen Transporter platform which had zipped them from the SGC to the Russian Military facility under the Ural Mountains via a short stopover in the X-COM Base in Poland.

'Colonel Carter?' a young woman wearing a Russian military uniform greeted them. 'I am Lieutenant Tolinev' she introduced herself. 'If you would please accompany me to the main hanger Doctor McKay is waiting for your arrival' she said, leading off.

'I hope nobody waited for us Lieutenant' Carter replied, following on.

'From what I could tell Doctor McKay seemed more concerned about impressing you than he did any of the other personnel, including several senior officers who travelled from Moscow especially to see the project yesterday, Colonel' Tolinev replied.

'So is there a history here I don't know about' Jonas asked Sam.

'If there is it exists solely in McKay's twisted imagination, and that's something I just don't want to think about for a second' Carter replied.  
Fortunately the platform at Yamantau wasn't too far away from the laboratories and underground aircraft hangers and walking at a brisk pace they soon arrived. 'Samantha' a woman greeted them warmly just inside the door leading to a cavernous underground chamber.

'Doctor Markov' Carter responded with a smile as Tolinev handed them over to the scientist and headed off.

'As I have told you before, call me Svetlana, please' the Russian physicist told her. 'And this must be Jonas Quinn who provided the naquadriah correct?' she asked.

'It is' Carter confirmed. 'Jonas meet Doctor Svetlana Markov, the senior X-COM Scientist based at this facility' she told him.

'It's a pleasure' Jonas told her. 'I read a few of your papers, very impressive' he said. 'Of course I had to read a large number of physics textbooks first before I could understand any of them but from what I could keep up with Samantha's description of you to me earlier as "brilliant" was extremely apt' he said.

'Physics texts?' Markov queried.

'Kelowna where Jonas comes from is a few decades behind us in theoretical physics' Carter explained. 'The rate at which he got up to speed is frankly frightening' she continued. 'He's also read almost all of our old mission reports and I think he memorised practically all of Daniels old notebooks.'

'I'm a quick study' Jonas told her, as if the feat wasn't much to speak of.

'Yes but unfortunately we can't all be hok'taur Mr Quinn' Markov told him, 'I've read the file X-COM have on you, your tested Psionic scores were highly impressive' she added.

'Not impressive enough to prevent a teenage girl making me involuntarily sing Kelownan folk songs apparently' Jonas replied wryly.

'Cassie does that to everyone with good scores' Carter told him, 'teaches them humility' she said, and she gets a kick out of it Sam knew.

'Plus Commander Sharp wanted to make sure I knew that if I ever got hold of a Psi-Amp and tried mind-controlling anyone for nefarious reasons I'd be slapped down' Jonas replied knowingly. 'I realise I'm not fully trusted yet' he said. 'Colonel O'Neill made that abundantly clear by his refusal to even contemplate me joining SG-1.'

'Well you are an alien' Carter pointed out. 'And if it helps your ego Cassie said she never had to put in so much effort to control someone before' she continued.

'Teal'c is an alien too, and he's on the team already' Jonas replied, 'and so is the very same Cassandra Fraser who you trust to keep me in line' he noted.

'Trust is earned and at least those examples prove there's hope' Carter replied. 'Just remember that it's not like we keep a gun on you 24/7 like we do Nirrti.'

Jonas grimaced. 'That woman, if woman is the right word, makes me extremely... uncomfortable' he admitted. She had clearly been trying to seduce, or "vamp" him as the locals said, for her own ends and it was disturbing in the extreme.

'I think of the female alien scientists working alongside us on occasion most men seem to prefer the company of the Tok'ra Anise' Markov observed. 'I cannot think why' she asked in feigned ignorance.

'Complete mystery' Carter replied trying to keep a straight face.

'Hey are you going to stand over there all day gossiping or are you going to come look at this new hyperspace window generator' an annoyed and familiar voice yelled out to them.

'We will be there presently Doctor McKay' Markov called back to where he was standing next to an F-302X _Grim Reaper_ in the centre of the hanger. 'He is very rude' she noted, 'many of the staff have refused to work with him ever again after a few days of doing so' she continued. 'He also does not share credit even when it is due, Doctor Murphy contributed much to the research, as did Doctor Novak before she was transferred to the Prometheus project' she noted.

Carter shrugged. 'Unfortunately for all his failings as a human being he really is almost as smart as he thinks he is' she said, 'which makes him too valuable not to have working for us' she said.

'His contribution on the incorporation of naquadriah into our existing hyperdrive designs has been invaluable I must reluctantly admit' Markov conceded. 'It has enabled us to design a drive based largely upon that carried by a Tel'tak but small enough to fit on an F-302' she said. 'The tactical advantage this offers our pilots is immense as you know.'

Carter nodded. 'We can't risk the _Enterprise_ in combat with other Ha'tak ships, it's too valuable an asset, but if it can simply drop out of hyperspace outside a target solar system and launch squadrons of Faster-Than-Light capable fighters in strike missions against high-value targets we could cause massive damage to Goa'uld facilities.'

'I have heard suggestions of Pearl Harbour style carrier attacks against enemy shipyards being mooted' Markov replied.

Carter chuckled. 'We might use another historical example ourselves in the U.S.' she said.

'I'm very grateful to get the chance to accompany you here to see the new hyperdrive design' Jonas told them. 'I don't get out too much for one thing' he continued. 'Could I get a chance to get up on the surface?' he asked. 'I checked the weather forecast for the region and it's good for the next five hours' he said.

'Both General Hammond and Commander Sharp said we should give you access to any naquadriah related research' Carter replied. 'And out of interest do you ever tune your TV top anything but the Weather Channel?' she asked.

'It's fantastic' Jonas enthused. 'All of your weather from all over your planet right there. Even a long-range forecast. It's like… predicting the future' he said.

'You should come back to Russia in the winter' Markov told him. 'We will show you weather worthy of the name' she said.

'Cool' Jonas replied brightly.

'Very' Markov told him as they went to join the impatient McKay.

Lieutenant Tolinev ran back into the hanger. 'Colonel Carter you have been called back to the SGC' she said. 'Doctor McKay also' she continued. 'There is a problem with the stargate' she told them.

'Darn' Carter responded. 'Did they say what the problem was?' she asked.

'There is an incoming wormhole from an unknown location which has not deactivated after the usual thirty-eight minutes and General Hammond wishes your analysis of the situation' Tolinev replied.

'I thought that keeping a wormhole open longer than thirty-eight minutes was impossible' Jonas asked in confusion.

'No, it just requires a staggering amount of energy' Carter replied. 'The Tollan gave us the equations that filled in most of the gaps we had in understanding wormhole physics' she said. 'They made my head hurt' she admitted. The Tollan were centuries ahead of Earth, they were actually at the scientific stage not only of having a Unified Field Theory that explained Quantum and Relativistic effects simultaneously but they had practical applications of that theory such as the power-source that Tau'ri engineers called the UFT Generator, not that that they understood remotely how it worked beyond the level of knowing it put out a truly phenomenal amount of energy. A misused UFT Generator had pretty much shattered the planet Serita in the original Tollan home system, a feat which would require thousands of tons of weapons-grade naquadah at the very least to replicate. 'McKay we need to get to the SGC' she called out.

'But I was going to let you look over my equations' McKay told her, he knew she'd be impressed assuming she could follow them.

'I can correct your math later' Carter responded, earning a scowl. 'There's an incoming wormhole which has been active over thirty-eight minutes' she told him.

McKay looked at the hyperdrive, it could wait he decided, this sounded like something interesting, something that required proper investigation and the keenest mind on Earth to look into. Carter would make a damn fine eye-candy lab assistant while he worked it out.

'If you keep him there's a bottle of vodka in it for you' Markov told Carter seriously.

Lieutenant Tolinev left eye twitched. 'I have just been told I am getting re-assigned shortly to X-COM at the SGC' she said. 'I will give you _two_ bottles to ensure he is sent back here Colonel' she counter-offered.

'You know _somewhere_ in the universe there has got to be a place for McKay' Carter observed thoughtfully.

'With stargates and hyperdrive, anywhere in this galaxy would be insufficiently distant for my liking' Markov told her.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2002**

Carter looked down at the stargate again before turning back to the senior staff. 'We've checked the results three times and it's definitely not a glitch' she said. 'The energy build-up is so incredibly gradual, we had to increase the sensitivity of our monitoring equipment two-hundred percent to even register it' she told them, 'but over time it's incrementally building to a level which the gate won't be able to hold.'

McKay nodded. 'A stargate is basically a giant superconductor that stores charge like a capacitor and releases it to create a wormhole' he explained. 'It can hold a huge amount of charge but eventually it's absorbed all it can take and once it's reached its limit...'

'We estimate an explosion of two to three thousand megatons in yield' Carter interrupted him.

'Think ten to fifteen times the yield of the Krakatoa eruption in 1883 which blew the island to pieces' McKay told them. 'It'll basically take out the whole of Colorado and effects will be global, the ash Krakotoa threw up into the atmosphere depressed temperatures world-wide for the next five years and that was a lot smaller than this is going to be.'

'Nuclear winter' General Hammond replied.

'Oh yeah' McKay confirmed. 'Of course the localised damage to the North American continent will be more severe' he noted.

'How long have we got?' Commander Sharp asked.

'Well we're talking days not hours fortunately because so far we've got no idea how to stop it Sir' Carter replied.

'Days?' Colonel O'Neill queried.

'The build-up to overload is incredibly incremental' Carter told him. 'Guessing this whole thing is deliberate we don't know if that's because this is as fast as it can be done or it's just someone's idea of prolonging the agony' she said.

'Guessing this is the work of some Goa'uld I wouldn't bet against the latter' O'Neill observed.

'Any we can't tell where it's coming from?' Sharp asked.

'Sorry Sir, we don't have Caller ID on the gate or anything' Carter reminded him.

Sharp crossed his arms. 'With a couple of days to work with we could probably get a ship there and show them some megatonnage of our own' he growled.

'You know this sounds like a job for our oh-so-advanced allies to me' O'Neill observed.

Carter shrugged. 'Anise is going to ring down from the _Enterprise_ but she says she's never heard of any piece of Goa'uld technology that can do something like this so she's not sure if she can help at all' she said. 'Heimdall says she thinks she knows how someone might be doing it, and is trying to think up a way to delay the explosion by drawing some of the excess power off the gate as an interim measure, but it might take a while to put something together.'

'Anyone talked to the Tollan?' Sharp asked.

'Yes, we signalled them and requested if they couldn't help could they talk to the Nox in case _they_ can' Carter replied. 'But to be honest if the Asgard don't have an immediate solution then we shouldn't get our hopes up for them to either' she said.

The lights dimmed and several alarms starting going off. 'We're experiencing widespread loss of power Sir' Harriman reported, looking at his screen.

'First too much power then not enough' O'Neill responded, 'you know if we could find a way to merge these two problems we'd be sweet' he said.

'We've got company' Sharp said, pointing out into the gate room as a slightly transparent image formed on the ramp.

'**_I am Anubis_**' the figure began to speak with enough volume and the right tones to reverberate.

'It looks like a holographic projection' Carter opined. 'This is Asgard technology. He must have downloaded it from Thor' she said.

'Well thank you Captain obvious' McKay responded, rolling his eyes.

'At least get my rank right, that's _Major_ obvious' Carter corrected him

'**_Humans of the Tau'ri, I am aware of your deception_**' the image of Anubis stated. '**_You will hand over both the Eye of Tiamat and your prisoner Osiris or face your doom_**' it commanded. '**_There is nothing that can stop the destruction I bring upon you_**' it declared with certainty.

'Oh come on... who talks like that?' O'Neill asked sardonically.

'The Tok'ra said Anubis had a reputation for being melodramatic even by System Lord standards' General Hammond observed.

'And I thought Apophis and his camp Ming the Merciless act was bad' O'Neill commented. 'This guy raises the bar for clichés' he declared.

'Can he hear us?' Sharp asked.

'We can open a channel on a Goa'uld frequency, transmit a reply' Carter responded.

'Go ahead please Major' Sharp requested.

'Done' Carter told him after punching a few keys.

'This is Commander Russell Sharp am I addressing the Goa'uld System Lord Anubis?' Sharp asked, leaning into the microphone in front of him.

'**_You are_**' the hologram confirmed. '**_You will learn to bow before my awesome power or face annihilation_**' it added.

'This guy really digs his own act' O'Neill whispered. 'Do you think he practices the super-villain speech in the mirror before show-time?' he pondered. 'Make sure he's stressing the right words?'

Sharp raised a hand to shut O'Neill up. 'We don't have the Eye of Tiamat, Apophis stole it' he said into the microphone.

'**_I am all knowing_**' the hologram declared, '_**I saw through your simple ruse, how could you think to trick a god**_?' it asked.

Sharp turned to General Hammond who shrugged. 'Took you long enough to work out, doesn't exactly meet my definition of omniscience' Sharp told Anubis with some amusement.

'**_Your chappa'ai is in my hands_**' Anubis responded, reaching out a clenched fist like he meant it literally, '**_agree to my terms or I will destroy it and you with it_**' the holographic image ofd the System Lord vowed.

'I'm sorry you seem to have mistaken me for someone who takes you seriously' Commander Sharp replied sarcastically.

The image of Anubis leaned its head to one side. '**_Your pathetic bluster means nothing, I know that your people yielded to Sokar when threatened such as this_**' the hologram said. '**_As you once handed Apophis over to him you will do the same with what I demand_**.'

'Yeah well the days of giving into guys that think the cowl is a good look are over' Sharp told him. 'No offence George' he said to Hammond.

'**_Your insolence and bravado is nothing but a mask for your hopelessness_**' Anubis declared. '**_I will return in a day when your deaths are closer at hand and your leaders are ready to bow to their god and then I will decide if I want your head also_**' he said, the hologram vanishing and the lighting coming back on.

'Do you think he'd accept the Commander's head as a deposit on the other stuff?' O'Neill asked. 'Just spitballing here Sir' he added as Sharp directed a glare his way. 'I mean we could try and make it sound like a good deal' he continued, 'you know, low mileage, original hair...'

'We could throw in the Colonel's head as a bonus, we know the Goa'uld put a price on it' General Hammond suggested deadpan.

'Let's make that Plan D' O'Neill responded. 'Carter I think the Commander and I would really like Plan's A to C on the table in the next few hours' he said, Sharp nodding his wholehearted agreement. 'You know when we were linked to the black hole we broke the connection with a shaped-charge' O'Neill suggested.

'That was an outgoing wormhole not incoming' Carter replied. 'Things work very differently depending on whether you're the sending or receiving gate' she reminded them.

McKay nodded. 'This Anubis, he has a real flair for the dramatic, doesn't he? Very theatrical' he observed.

'Yeah. Pretty much all the Goa'uld are like that' Carter responded.

'But, why wait so long before appearing?' McKay asked.

'I don't know. Maybe he wanted to make sure it was gonna work' Carter suggested.

'Yeah, that would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?' McKay agreed. 'He's all "Nothing can stop the destruction that I bring upon you!" Then the Gate shuts down.'

'Maybe it's new technology, or old technology he's unfamiliar with' Carter observed. 'Heimdall said she thought this entire thing reeked of the Ancients, we know from the Tok'ra that most Goa'uld technology is based upon their back-engineering of Ancient artefacts.'

'There's a thought' O'Neill said. 'Anubis has been pulling a lot of funky new tricks out of his ass ever since he showed up' he said. 'What if he found an old Ancient Outpost or something?'

'And he disappeared for a few centuries because he was back-engineering what he found' Carter responded. 'It's not a bad theory, maybe all he's really been doing is getting Goa'uld equipment closer to their original Ancient specs.'

'Holds some water as a theory but it doesn't help us too much right now' Commander Sharp interrupted.

McKay clicked his fingers. 'I've got an idea' he announced. 'It was you replying to Anubis over the radio that got me thinking' he told Sharp. 'We know that for certain kinds of energy or forces a wormhole is two-way' he said.

'Right, like radio or... gravity' O'Neill replied.

'We could send a massive EM Pulse back through the wormhole and try and disrupt the mechanism on the other side that's doing this' McKay suggested.

'Would that work?' Hammond asked.

'No, Sir. I already thought of it, and the reason I didn't mention it is because it is far too problematic' Carter told him. 'The Iris would have to be opened and we have absolutely no idea how much EM would be required to knock this thing out.'

'Have you got a better idea?' McKay asked. 'I could get an EM Pulse Generator set up in less than four hours.'

'If we open the iris we're cutting the amount of time we have until the gate explodes for something we don't know will work' Carter told the group. 'At the moment the iris is absorbing some of the incoming energy which is one reason it's only a trickle getting through to the stargate.'

'Feel free to come up with a better idea but until then I'm going with the one we've got' Commander Sharp said.

'Sir not every problem can be solved by blasting it with...' Carter started to reply then stopped. 'But maybe this one can' she said.

'This is what I call a Carter brainstorm moment' O'Neill remarked. 'You get used to them after a while.'

'The electromagnetic spectrum' Carter said. 'It starts with long wavelengths, radio, and as the wavelengths get shorter you get microwaves, Infra Red, visible light, UV, X-Ray's then finally Gamma Radiation' she said.

'Major even I know that with my "low mileage" head' Sharp replied. 'No need to dumb it down too far' he advised.

'Sorry Commander' Carter apologised. 'Well we know that the longest wavelengths travel through the wormhole in both directions or we couldn't communicate by radio' she said. 'And we know from connecting to worlds where the stargate is in a radioactive region that gamma rays at the other end of the spectrum can come through as well so it's not just the longest EM wavelengths that can do it.'

'Stargate physics 101' McKay interjected. 'We know the gate doesn't let visible light in the middle of the spectrum through because... well it's pretty obvious because you can't see through the event horizon' he said.

'Right' Carter agreed, but what that means is that there should be two points, high and low, probably in the microwave and X-Ray parts of the spectrum where EM radiation isn't being blocked any more' she said.

'The X-COM Laser Cannons' McKay realised, slapping himself on the side of the head. 'They're FEL's.'

'They're what?' O'Neill asked.

'Free Electron Lasers' Carter explained. 'It uses a relativistic electron beam as the lasing medium' she said.

'Maybe a little more dumbed-down than that' Sharp requested, O'Neill nodding his agreement.

'It doesn't really matter' Carter told him. 'What it means is that unlike gas, liquid or solid-state lasers a Free-Electron Laser can be tuned, you can get them to output a beam from the microwave frequencies all the way up to soft X-Rays' she explained. 'We use them in the visible spectrum but with some adjustment they don't have to Lase in that band' she said.

'We run a cannon at the shortest and longest frequencies we can get it to produce and hopefully one of those will be short or long enough to work' McKay said.

'It's a pity we can't get one of the big Base Defence Lasers down here' Carter said. 'Hook up a couple of naquadah generators and the biggest capacitors we can get and after testing the frequency with a lower-powered beam to make sure it'll work throw all the wattage we possibly can back at them.'

'Why can't we get one of those down here?' O'neill asked.

'They're huge Sir, they'd never fit down the corridor even if we could get them down the lift shaft' she said. 'A Laser Cannon from an F-302 should be doable though' Carter replied.

A cough from the back of the room caused everyone to turn finding Jonas standing there with a cup of coffee. 'Sorry to interrupt but there's something I've been meaning to ask since I got here and this seems like the time' he said. 'How did you get the stargate in here to begin with?' he asked. 'It's bigger than the corridors too' he noted.

Carter blinked. 'Above it is a shaft that leads to the surface, and inside is a crane mechanism that hoisted the Gate down' she replied. 'Jonas you're a genius' she added wondering how long he'd been listening. When not reading he pretty much roamed about the base talking to people, mainly about the weather, and drinking coffee which was starting to turn into a major caffeine addiction to be honest.

'Wouldn't Anubis have thought of something like this?' Hammond asked.

'Goa'uld, Asgard, Tollan, Sectoid... _everyone_ uses plasma-based weaponry but us Sir, and plasma won't go the wrong way down a gate so they'd never think of return fire, if plasma did work in both directions I'd fire a Zat-Cannon through instead' Carter replied. 'If the beam _doesn't_ work we can always try Plan B and fire McKay's EM Pulse straight away.'

'Take any personnel you need from any project and get this done ASAP' Sharp ordered. 'You have my authority to pull engineers and equipment from every facility we have around the world Colonel.'

'Yes Sir' Carter replied.

'And someone contact every intel source we have out there and find out what fucking planet Anubis is firing at us from' Sharp ordered loudly. 'Walter get the _Redemption_ loaded with the biggest warheads we've got, there should be a few nice big ones on _Enterprise_ they can beam over' Sharp told him. 'I feel a field-trip coming on' he said.

'Plan C?' Hammond queried.

'It's only fair seeing as how Anubis is threatening this planet with nuclear winter' Sharp replied. 'And I don't feel like sitting around here waiting for Plan D to sound good to someone' he added.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_A few references to episode 6:01 __Redemption Part 1__ when SG-1 was having trouble finding a replacement for Daniel Jackson. It's mentioned they went through nine of them before eventually ending up with Jonas. Although __Ferretti__ wasn't seen in the show again after season 1 he was mentioned again in season 3 so I've had him leaving for a while and returning to take command of SG-2._

_Lieutenant Tolinev__ was featured in episode 5:08 __The Tomb__. Doctor Murphy seemed to be leading on the F-302 hyperdrive project in the show whereas __Lindsey Novak__ was a hyperdrive engineer that worked on the Prometheus and later was part of the Daedalus crew. If the Tollan could build a stargate of their own I'm assuming they had a very good idea of the theory behind them. They've given the equations to Earth by this point but turning that into practical applications is still beyond us which is why it's easier to simply trade for Tollan built stargates. This trading relationship also helps cement relations between the worlds, continuing ongoing contact with the Tau'ri, Tok'ra, Asgard and Aschen would insidiously leach away Tollan isolationism over time. __The UFT (Unified Field Theory) Generator is my own name for whatever power-source it was that the Tollan used. If it could not only destroy Serita but also knock another planet in the same system off its proper orbit (the original Tollan homeworld) it's probably the most powerful thing short of a ZPM we heard of in the show. I'm placing it above an Asgard NIG (Neutrino-Ion Generator) in output (four of those powered a Beliskner) with the drawback that the Tollan UFTG has the downside of not failing safe and when it explodes you'd better be several AU distant._

_The incident with Sokar forcing the SGC to give up Apophis (in that case by attacking the iris with a particle beam which he also used to project an image on the iris itself) was in episode 2:17 __Serpents's Song__, Anubis is putting a new high-tech spin on a proven tactic. Gamma radiation was shown to travel back down an outgoing wormhole in episode 4:15 __Chain Reaction__, and we know radio waves at the other end of the EM Spectrum can without distortion, but visible light doesn't apparently travel in either direction so I'm going with the notion that there's a band from say the IR to UV frequencies which won't go through a wormhole for whatever reason. A __Free Electron Laser__ can be tuned and they are one of the types currently being developed for military use so the X-COM Laser design being a FEL type isn't that unlikely._


	28. Chapter 28

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2002**

Samantha Carter watched as the gate finally reached the surface, it had taken a little over two hours to secure the thing, rig up the winches and haul the device up the access shaft. 'Remember it weighs sixty-four thousand pounds' she called out to the team of Army Engineers now preparing to transport the stargate the rest of the way to its final destination. 'Don't let the size fool you' she continued, 'the gate material is extremely dense.'

'The gate may be dense Carter but I don't think the engineering crew are' Colonel O'Neill told her quietly. 'You do the physics and leave the heavy lifting to them' he advised. 'People hate being told how to do their own business' he reminded her.

Carter looked embarrassed, she realised she was getting a displeased look from the Officer commanding the crew and decided the Colonel had probably read the situation pretty well. 'Carry on' she said loudly, then turned to head off towards the closest of the Base Laser Defence installations X-COM had been emplacing around the mountain over the last year. It was a great deal easier to bring the gate to the laser than the oversized laser cannon to the gate and some of the best scientific minds on Earth were now working to re-tune the weapon from its usual output in the visible-light part of the electromagnetic spectrum to one which would transmit through the active wormhole. 'I feel like a fifth wheel' she admitted to O'Neill. 'McKay has a team putting together the EM Pulse Generator in case the laser doesn't work and we've got the actual people who _designed_ the laser doing that part of the work so I'm left standing around trying to look busy' she said.

'Sometimes you've got to let go and let the best qualified people for the job do it' O'Neill told her. 'You were the one that ordered all these people here and told them what they needed to do' he continued, 'now you just sit back and wait to take the credit for all their hard work' he said. 'I've been doing that with you and Daniel for _years_' he added deadpan.

Carter laughed. 'I don't know how I'd handle another promotion' she told him as they walked together.

'I find avoiding the paperwork made it less painful to rise above Major' O'Neill replied. 'Of course you do need to find a smart, hard-working and meticulous second-in-command who you can dump that on' he said.

'I'll bear that in mind Sir' Carter replied. 'Which reminds me, I might be willing to do some of your reports but I won't forge your signature so could you at least sign them and read them through in case General Hammond or Commander Sharp ask you questions' she said. 'I looked ridiculous trying to mime the answers to you at the briefing last month.'

'I'm sorry but I didn't think Sharp was a paperwork kinda guy' O'Neill responded. 'Hammond yeah but Sharp isn't my idea of a desk jockey' he said. 'Caught me on the hop when he asked a hard question about the report summary' O'Neill told her.

Carter shrugged. 'It's the nootropic drugs the X-COM people take' she explained. 'They make it easier to focus on tasks, even mundane ones' she continued. 'Ritalin is a nootropic, the stuff they give to kids who can't concentrate in class I mean.'

O'Neill blinked. 'You're not seriously telling me that not only are the X-COM people stronger, faster on their feet and with quicker reactions, they're also better at doing their damn _paperwork_ than we are?' he asked with a groan.

'I'm afraid so Sir' Carter replied apologetically. 'If it wasn't for the other side effects I might start taking some of the pills and injections they take myself' she told him. 'I don't think the long-term dangers are worth it, you just can't play with the human body and mind like that and expect to come out okay at the end of it' she opined. 'It's like abusing a sarcophagus, short-term you feel great and it'll add decades or maybe even centuries to your life but in the end you're giving up too much of what you really are' she said.

The Colonel nodded his agreement, he was willing to give his life but his mind and soul were something he'd rather keep intact until the end. 'So much powerful are these lasers?' he asked as their destination came into view, the heavy steel doors set into the ground open and the laser turret having been raised into position as it would be during an attack. Several of the weapons ringed the complex waiting to shoot down any unwary alien craft that approached.

'They're roughly ten times the wattage of the laser cannon the F-302X _Reapers_ carry' Carter told him. 'You could take out an Al'kesh or a shielded Tel'tak with one shot, not nearly enough firepower to deal with a Ha'tak but anything less wouldn't be able to get near' she told him. 'There are a few silos with naquadah-enhanced nuclear-tipped SAM's as a back-up but detonating that kind of ordinance over Colorado wouldn't be my idea of a great idea' she said. 'They're planning to add a trio of mothership heavy guns we copied from the ones on the _Enterprise_ by the end of the year which will give us some protection even against full-scale attack but that may fall behind schedule because of resources diverted elsewhere.'

O'Neill grinned. 'I've got this vision of a Ha'tak coming in to land on the mountain like we saw in that parallel universe we went to and the mountain kicking its ass' he said.

'I missed that mission if you'd remember Sir, had to stay here because my dimensional twin and I couldn't be in the same universe at the same time very long' Carter replied.

'Well it's a sweet mental image anyhow Major' O'Neill told her. 'How do you think Sharp is doing?' he asked, pointing upwards at the sky.

'They should have loaded the weaponry into the bays on the _Redemption_ and be preparing to head out any time soon Sir' Carter replied.

'They'd better bring back some video that's all I can say' O'Neill declared yelling over the sound of an F-302X coming into land. They had already formulated another back-up if both the laser and the EMP pulse failed, now the gate was on the surface they could simply strap it to the aerospace fighter and haul it into space where the detonation wouldn't be quite such a world-imperilling issue.

'I'm sure they'll be recording the whole thing Sir' Carter told him with a smile.

O'Neill looked at the oversized laser cannon. 'Think Anubis is going to see this coming?' he asked.

'Sir we'll be firing the beam at a wavelength he won't see at all except for the after-effects' Carter replied. 'Anything in front of the outgoing stargate when that laser is fired back at it is likely to be vaporised' she said.

'Here's hoping that Nuby is the type to be stood there cackling and rubbing his hands gleefully then' O'Neill replied. 'Or if not that he's the hands-on type that will be personally investigating what happened when Sharp arrives and nukes the crap out of the planet he's firing at us from.'

Carter laughed. 'Think the Commander will be cackling and rubbing his hands with glee when he orders the _Redemption_ to drop its warheads?' she asked.

O'Neill looked thoughtful for a while. 'No to the hand-rubbing' he said eventually, 'but only because he'll insist on pushing the button himself' he said. 'Maybe more of an excited schoolgirl giggle than a cackle too' he added.

'Unleashing thermonuclear hell does seem like his idea of a fun activity' Carter agreed.

'Remind me to ask for a raise' O'Neill replied. 'He'll be in a good mood for weeks after this.'

**High Orbit – Earth – June 2002**

Captain Tanner turned in his command chair when Sharp entered the bridge and gave a nod of acknowledgement to register his presence. 'Hyperdrive powering up Commander' he reported. 'Shield generators and Particle Cannon showing one-hundred percent efficiency' he continued. 'Just remember that if we try and tangle with a Ha'tak we'll come apart with the third shot from their main guns' the non-terrestrial born human officer added seriously.

'I thought we'd upgraded the shields and weapons?' Sharp queried. Thanks to captured Goa'uld, Sectoid and a few other alien defence technologies it had obtained over the last few years Earth was developing some very interesting and surprisingly effective bastardised systems which often surpassed the original designs by a noticeable margin.

'Before the upgrades our shields would have collapsed after the _second_ shot' Tanner replied flatly. 'Your people added a few laser point-defence turrets which give us a much better chance against a Death Glider squadron or two but we're still a long way from being a capital ship' he told Sharp frankly. The four forward-facing particle beam cannon the _Redemption_ carried would pulverise an Al'Kesh or a shielded Tel'tak in short order but they simply didn't have the firepower to burn through the shields of a pyramid ship before the damn great thing blew them to fragments. During the fighting to defend Tanner's home system he had watched the Goa'uld motherships sweep aside his peoples small navy and its relatively undersized ships with impunity, the memory was painful though not as much as the guilt he felt for desertion.

Sat in the navigators chair Martin Lloyd nodded his agreement with Tanner, they had been getting along better of late but Martin was however still wary of the rest of his crew given their history together during their brief exile on Earth. Although more advanced than the Goa'uld in some scientific areas Martin pondered to himself, their matter transporter technology to give one example, his people had nonetheless been overwhelmed by their enemies raw military might which is why of course they had sent this ship to look for allies in other star systems, in particular the fabled homeworld of humanity hoping that the first world would be more advanced than it turned out to be. 'Course laid in for P8X-987 Captain' he told Tanner, trying to sound calm although the prospect of possibly facing battle had his heart racing. They had all opted to keep their adopted Earth names, much as they had also accepted the renaming of their vessel, it was easier to deal with both the present and future if they avoided too much dwelling on the past.

Looking away from the command console in front of his chair Tanner directed his his full attention on Sharp. 'The cargo is secure' he said. 'Your people are going to have a cramped journey in the hold with all those warheads' he noted. It wasn't a large ship, barely over forty metres in length and not intended for passengers, just the five man crew and a smallish cargo hold for supplies.

'I don't like travelling without a few troopers just in case' Sharp replied, 'there's only three of them, plenty of space to stretch out as long as they don't mind cuddling up to a few nuclear weapons.'

'Not my idea of a sleeping companion' one of the other aliens observed, Sharp thought he was the one called Ted which made him the weapons officer, the pilot over there called himself Bob but Sharp was damned if he could remember what the fifth member of the crew, the engineer who was still helping the X-COM soldiers get settled in the hold, called himself.

'If you're right next to the thing when it detonates it doesn't really matter if it's a quarter kilo of HE in a grenade or a quarter-billion tonne yield nuke' Sharp pointed out reasonably. 'There's only so dead you can be' he said then paused. 'Of course resurrecting you in a sarcophagus after the grenade would probably be a more likely proposition' he added, thinking about it some more.

'I was thinking a woman not a warhead' Ted replied. 'As a companion I mean' he continued. 'Haven't got any surface leave in a while' he complained, giving Sharp a meaningful look. Between beaming engines out of Sectoid ships, and hauling naquadah from the asteroid full of the stuff the Goa'uld had thoughtfully supplied, the crew of the _Redemption_ had been very busy the past few months and occasional trips to the _Enterprise_ wasn't quite the same as a weekend in Vegas. They were paid the same salary as other X-COM personnel, indeed they now wore the standard jumpsuits and insignia too, but they rarely got to spend their pay.

Sharp frowned. 'You do realise the core mission of X-COM is to keep you damn aliens off our fine Earth Women?' he asked straight-faced before smiling. 'This mission goes smooth and you can take a few days off, just don't leave any accidental kids behind with DNA anomalies someone will notice' he requested semi-seriously. Thousands of years of minor, or in the case of some worlds like the one Jonas Quinn was from fairly major genetic divergence meant that extra-terrestrial humans would clearly be identifiable as such from their genes.

'So we kill Goa'uld then get laid' Ted remarked. 'Sounds good to me' he opined. 'Beats the shit out of carting naquadah ore from the Oort Cloud' he added brightly. 'Hyperdrive is in the green' the pilot announced giving his own console displays a final check.

Sharp looked around the bridge. 'Okay we think Bratac is the best bet to have a handle on where Anubis is firing at us from so we pick him up from the Free Jaffa base on Hanka and then deliver our response to our new favourite System Lord's demands' he addressed the crew. 'Let's get going Captain, and don't spare the hyperdrive, we'll overhaul the thing when we get back if we have to so push it hard' he ordered.

Tanner pressed a few controls on his own touch-screen panel, verifying the ships condition and the programmed course. 'Let's go' he told Ted and in response the pilot fired up the ships faster-than-light engines, opening a hyperspace window ahead of the ship as the Redemption shifted to flight mode, the outer section of the vessel swinging around ninety degrees from the horizontal to the vertical and then accelerated on through into sub-space.

'Let me know when we're an hour out Captain' Sharp told Tanner, turning to head back to the cargo hold before stopping and turning back towards him again. 'There's one more thing I need to know' he added. 'Where's the toilet on this ship?' he asked.

'First hatch on the left after the reactor room' Tanner replied, 'we've added instructions in English because we know you can't read our script' he told Sharp. 'Just make sure to turn the valves in the right order when you've finished' he warned. 'The pump can go into reverse and you don't want that to happen trust me' he told the Commander with as much emphasis as he could.

Sharp noted the grimace on Martin Lloyds face and made sure to read the instructions thoroughly as he headed for his latest encounter with alien starship plumbing technology. He only hoped they had a better sense of ergonomics than the Goa'uld, by general request the toilets on _Enterprise_ had been ripped out and replaced well before the X-COM personnel aboard started dissecting the computer core.

Passing the engineer in the corridor as the crewman headed in the opposite direction towards the bridge, Sharp failed an attempt to surreptitiously read his name tag en-route and kept going towards the cargo bay finding it dominated as expected by a large rack of nuclear ordinance. 'You okay in here Troopers?' he asked, returning the salutes of the trio of X-COM soldiers who had risen from improvised seats of weapon crates to salute him.

'We're fine Sir' the nearest replied. 'Hoping for a little action' he added.

'I guess we'll see how it goes' Sharp replied. 'Stand easy' he told them.

'Excuse me Sir but what's the yield on these things?' one of the troopers asked curiously, indicating one of the racked re-entry vehicles.

'Those are our new standard 1.2 gigaton naquadah-enhanced warheads' Sharp replied, he had read all the documentation. 'The three oversized ones are something a little special' he continued. 'Basically the same warhead but set in two metric tonnes of cobalt' he explained.

'Cobalt?' one of the troopers queried.

'Produces radioactive fallout like you wouldn't believe, make an area uninhabitable for decades' Sharp told him. 'We're sending a message to Anubis and every other Goa'uld bastard that if you fuck with Earth then Earth will fuck with you' he declared. 'Anubis overloading and detonating the stargate on Earth would cause global damage, well we can do that to his worlds too' he said. 'Hopefully they'll decide that escalation isn't in anyone's interest, we know from Tok'ra agents that when the Tollan announced they had the Ghostriders and their new UFT bombs the System Lords crapped themselves' he continued with a grin, 'well we can't blow up a whole world but we can make it so you really wouldn't want to live there unless you like having your hair and teeth fall out and your kids born with webbed feet and seven fingers on each hand' Sharp told his troops who laughed in response.

'How do we drop these things anyhow?' one of the three asked.

'Just beam them off the ship and let gravity and the thrusters on the re-entry vehicles do the work' Sharp answered. 'Accuracy isn't perfect I'm told but with those yields getting within ten kilometres of target should more than do it' he continued happily. 'Christ you'd still get third degree burns from one of those going off if it detonated two hundred klicks away' Sharp enthused.

'And we've got twelve of them plus the three big ones?' one of the troopers responded slowly, looking at the things with mild concern.

'Let it not be said that X-COM fucks around' Sharp replied. 'Just wait until we get those naquadria bombs the R&D people are working on, makes regular naquadah look like gunpowder they say' he added, rubbing his hands with barely restrained glee and with a beaming smile that wasn't quite as bright as a thousand suns but was pretty disturbing nonetheless.

When they picked him up along with Teal'c who had been visiting his family on Hanka Master Bra'tac, ever a good judge of character, observed to his former apprentice that Sharp of Canada alas seemed no more balanced than before earning a heartfelt "Indeed" of agreement in reply.

**Stargate Destroyer – Anubis' Planet – June 2002**

Operating largely untended once their all-powerful and all-knowing master, the Lord Anubis, had repaired and activated the device the Jaffa guarding the ancient machine were starting to get very bored. This did not mean they were becoming lax, they were too loyal for that, but they would have all much preferred to be with the forces battling Apophis rather than be sat watching the ancient machine fire its continual beam of energy into the gate.

Set in what looked much like a decaying stone amphitheatre, surrounded by two concentric rings of obelisks, the device itself was certainly impressive to watch in operation, at least it was at first, but after a few hours the fascination the Jaffa had with this great artefact started to fade. The outer ring generated a force-field which protected the structure like a great wall with only one way in or out while a looped ribbon of energy connected the inner ring, the ribbon looking much like the beam the central structure was firing into the chappa'ai. They had no idea how it all worked, the Goa'uld did not permit their slaves too much knowledge of what many Jaffa still thought was magic, they only knew that Anubis had declared that the beam would eventually destroy the chappa'ai on the Tau'ri homeworld unless that is that they surrendered both their captive Osiris and the Eye of Tiamat to him and pleaded for mercy.

Three Hat'ak ships flew in orbit overhead, and deathgliders patrolled the skies as a defence. Many more of both would have been present to defend such a valuable weapon in less chaotic times but the needs of the front line of the war came first and Anubis could not spare any more assets even to protect a site such as this. Although hard pressed by both the combined numbers of the fleets of his enemies, and the superior shields and weapons in the service of Ba'al and especially Anubis himself, Apophis still stubbornly refused to buckle under pressure and as his own improved model Ha'tak ships increased in numbers from their birthplace in the great shipyards of Delmak his position was stabilising if anything. Long term Apophis probably couldn't win, eventually as Anubis increased his domain and industrial infrastructure, gaining decent numbers of ships and Jaffa warriors to match his technological superiority the rogue System Lord sitting on Sokar's old throne would be crushed, but for now Apophis was making a very respectable fight of it and could still afford to lose more vessels in each battle while maintaining military parity.

Still establishing himself after his long banishment from the ranks of the System Lords Anubis still controlled relatively few worlds as yet, indeed if not for his impressive scientific edge on his peers the handful of systems he controlled would have made him no more important in the big scheme of things than a minor Goa'uld such as Imhotep. As it was his forces punched well above their weight making him a powerful ally or dangerous foe, whilst the lust other System Lords had for access to even a few minor examples of his new technological marvels meant even the likes of Ba'al or Lord Yu treated him with a degree of public deference whilst obviously planning to deal with him as he deserved after the downfall of Apophis.

Few of even his most loyal Jaffa knew the location of Tartarus, the secret capital world of Anubis where his chief scientist Thoth was working on new applications for the Ancient Technology Anubis inexplicably seemed to comprehend. As well as continued incremental upgrades to his ships the laboratories and workshops of Tartarus were slowly working towards the perfection of new infantry weapons for his armies with body armour and a new breed of warriors to match. Lacking the disposable cannon-fodder of many worlds with a large population of Jaffa upon them Anubis was always forced to seek force-multipliers, in this way he was strangely similar to the Tau'ri he now found himself in opposition to, they both constantly sought a technological means to make up for their numerical shortcomings.

Two of the Jaffa set to guard the device idly watched the machine continue its task. 'I have heard it said that once the Eye's of Tiamat and Osiris are in the hands of our God he will then only need to recover that of Ra to possess all six' one remarked. The fabled crystal Eye's had long been spoken of in Jaffa legend as the symbols of the greatest System Lord's of the old days, that Anubis would have all of them was only fitting for his glory.

'It sickens me that the atheist scum of the First World that actually deny the very divinity of the God's should have any of them in their keep' the other replied with obvious distaste for the very notion. 'Our Lord Anubis should demand their fealty and the heads of their leaders as well as the return of that which is rightfully his' the Jaffa declared, the sincerity of his faith clear to any that might be listening.

'I agree brother' the first Jaffa concurred. 'Once we have crushed those heretics and the armies of Apophis then we will surely finish the holy task set us and crush the traitor Jaffa that have rallied to the shol'va cause.'

'It surely says much of Apophis that the rebel Jaffa are led by two that were both once his First Prime, Bra'tac and Teal'c' the second Jaffa noted then laughed. 'For a God Apophis is surely a poor judge of who he should promote to his side' he continued with amusement.

The first Jaffa nodded. 'You may be right' he agreed, Apophis was surely a lesser deity than Anubis on that basis alone. 'We are fortunate to serve a Lord who rewards only those who are genuinely loyal and deserving and can recognise those that are merely feigning devotion' he said then smiled. 'Although to hear tell my wife my own promotion is surely late in coming' he added.

'We will have our reward for our loyal service in time Brother' the other replied with certainty. 'Either in this life or the next' he said confidently.

Thousands of light-years distant at the other end of the open wormhole a team of well educated heretics had finished its own act of devotion to its cause and with the receiving chappa'ai positioned on the dangerous end of a large directed-energy weapon one Samantha Carter was preparing to send Earth's response to Anubis in the form of the most coherent beam of microwaves they could manage. They were going to fire at the longest wavelength the tuneable Free-Electron-Laser could manage and hoped it was long enough to get around the wide band of frequencies in the middle of the electromagnet spectrum that would not transmit down a wormhole, built as a laser it was now by far the most powerful maser cannon anyone had ever constructed.

With McKay and his back-up plan, a charged EM Pulse Generator, ready Carter signalled for the iris mechanism to be activated and as soon as it slid open she immediately pressed the jury-rigged manual control that fired the maser.

Visually it was all highly unspectacular at the Earth end of the wormhole given that microwaves are invisible to the human eye, at the other end however...

As the two Jaffa Guards watched and gaped sparks started to shoot off the Ancient Device, it was too well constructed to be destroyed even by the gigantic wattage being fired back at it through the stargate but like metal in a domestic microwave oven the surface started to arc as it absorbed the energy and if the crystal and superconducting naquadah control circuitry objected most strenuously to this unexpected and unplanned for assault. A small bird flew into the microwave beams invisible path and promptly exploded as all the blood in its body instantly boiled and the internal pressure blew it to pieces.

Constructed to last for countless millennia by the Ancients, a race known to drastically over-engineer, and who seriously built to last, the great machine was not however destroyed but instead long dormant automatic safeties kicked in and it immediately shut down its own beam heading in the opposite direction, shutting down the wormhole to protect itself. Only open longer than the standard thirty-eight minutes because of the vast energies the machine was constantly pumping in to keep the wormhole maintained the chappa'ai instantly turned itself off, cutting off the maser beam going the other way as well and leaving the device inert once again, much as it had been in the millions of years of abandonment before Anubis located and activated it. The main difference however was that you could currently fry an egg on any suitable surface, it was practically glowing being designed to transmit a beam of energy not have one played over it.

Back on Earth dozens of scientists and engineers who had been watching the operation cried out and jumped for joy the instant the gate closed down and a certain Rodney McKay got slapped for kissing Samantha Carter whilst seeking to take advantage of the situation. The other stargate located in the X-COM base in Poland had been standing by and quickly plugging in their DHD they dialled the Omega Site preventing Anubis trying again just in case.

The two Jaffa looked on in dismay. 'Someone has to tell Anubis' one said eventually, looking at the now inactive machine. Unfortunately shooting, or rather hand-devicing the messenger was a time-honoured Goa'uld custom and even by the standards of his race Anubis wasn't exactly inclined to mercy, he would likely just lash out in frustration or merely to make himself feel better.

'It's been nice knowing you' the other replied. 'And no I wasn't volunteering to do it myself' he added in case he hadn't made that quite clear. They were devoted but that did not mean they were remotely enthusiastic about the likelihood of being slain for stress relief especially given the agony of such a demise, the ribbon of energy from the hand device worn by the God's inflicted pain beyond imagining. 'It was as if the Tau'ri used some invisible magic of their own to smite the chappa'ai destroyer' he continued, ignoring the glare he was receiving. 'Did you see the bird that flew between them?' he asked. 'How could they do such a thing?' he asked rhetorically, he had not even heard of the God's themselves doing such a thing the wrong way down the tunnel between worlds, not even in legend.

Anubis had considered possible Asgard intervention, or indeed that the Tau'ri themselves or with Tok'ra help might come in ships, but once again the humans of the first world had demonstrated the power of ignorance. They did not know or care what centuries of hidebound tradition said was impossible, so making it all up as they went along, and frequently with little subtlety of method, they simply tried things nobody else would have considered. Innovation and out-of-the-box thinking was apparently once again proving itself a surprising match for what should have been overwhelming, unstoppable power. Monitoring the situation from orbit the crews of the three Ha'tak ships which had been standing guard decided they had been flying around pointlessly with their thumb up their arses all this time and stood down from high alert because the damn Tau'ri apparently already had an effective defence against the chappa'ai destroyer which they didn't even have to leave home to use.

Thus it was that when the _Redemption_ emerged from hyperspace near the planet and accelerated to maximum sub-light it took the Jaffa far longer than it should have to respond, the confusion caused by what the Ha'tak ships sensors said it was making things even worse, the people and vessels of that world had been utterly annihilated by the forces of another System Lord years ago.

This is not to say that Captain Tanner on the _Redemption_ was any less perturbed by practically running straight into the three ships which utterly dwarfed his own, that they didn't immediately fire only gave him more time to swear vociferously in both English and the language of his homeworld as they shot straight between two six-hundred metre wide Ha'tak scanning the surface of the world below for energy readings.

'Why aren't they shooting at us?' Martin asked in amazement.

'Don't tempt fate' Bra'tac advised him. 'That they aren't is more than enough to know' he said sagely.

'Deathgliders on our ass' Ted the weapon's officer reported as staff-cannon fire began ineffectually impacting the upgraded shields. The motherships might not have been awake but some of the Jaffa fighter-pilots on patrol around them were still alert enough it seemed. 'Point Defence Cannon tracking and firing' he continued with a smirk as the retro-fitted laser turrets swung around and began swatting the unshielded deathgliders like flies. Though a fraction as powerful as the modified base-defence cannon which had been fired into the open stargate back on Earth the X-COM designed directed-energy weapons added to _Redemption_ were still overkill against the Goa'uld fighters. They had been originally designed for engagement against the considerably better armoured ships Loki's creations flew, not the relatively flimsy targets they were being fired at now, and at near point-blank single-kilometre range, and still outside the atmosphere which would have otherwise bled off some of their wattage, the beams sliced through the small enemy craft like the proverbial hot-knife through butter.

'I think we've got our target, starting bombing run' the pilot reported. 'Preparing to transport warheads from the hold in planned sequence' he said, wishing his palms weren't so sweaty on the controls.

'I'll push the button' Commander Sharp responded. 'Anybody back there in the hold sitting on a nuke that doesn't want to go out yelling "YEEEHAAA" riding it like in Doctor Strangelove might want to get the fuck off the thing right now!' he yelled down the open passageway that led to the cargo bay. It was sound advice as seconds afterwards, as he pressed the control indicated to him, they slammed into the atmosphere going fast enough to jar the whole ship and then the first warhead shimmered into nothingness only to appear outside the ship where it began to fall just like things should in a gravity field, the ships computer having determined the best place to deploy the thing so that it landed where they wanted it to.

_Redemption_ ploughed a fiery path through the sky as it tore through the atmosphere, plasma bolts from Deathgliders hurtling past it, plus an ever increasing volume of initially inaccurate but improving fire from secondary batteries on the Ha'taks joining in. The motherships were also starting to roll, orientating themselves to bring their main guns to bear as well but it was too late, by the time they had done so _Redemption_ had released its entire inventory of nuclear weapons and was running for its life, not just from the enemy but from its own labours.

Fused to surface burst the first in the string of twelve naquadah-enhanced warheads impacted the ground and each detonated with a force equivalent to over ninety-thousand Hiroshima bombs. The thermonuclear fireball was still growing when the next warhead detonated twenty-five kilometres further along the flight-path the ship had taken and so on it went, the dozen warheads wreaking unimaginable destruction in turn as their blast-waves grew and overlapped, each generating a fireball itself twelve kilometres across that vaporised anything caught within it. The blinding flash and shock wave through the ground each caused heralding the detonation of the next as they carved a vicious wound across the planet, a chain of fire that put any artistic depiction of hell to shame.

The seventh warhead landed with more accuracy than had been hoped, only two kilometres from the gate-destroyer, although built to withstand the ages this was considerably more than even the Ancient engineer that designed it had planned for and it was simply erased from existence by the explosion as the rather tougher stargate itself was sent spinning away through the air like a matchstick in a hurricane, landing far away and bouncing along the ground until finally coming to rest half submerged at the edge of a swamp, the water boiling around it from the heat it had absorbed from the blast.

Climbing back into space after its bomb-run _Redemption_ had left the best till last. As titanic mushroom clouds of debris climbed to the heavens in its wake, the three special cobalt-jacketed warheads detonated as airbursts some hundreds of kilometres apart to maximise the spread of their deadly radioactive fallout. It would encircle the globe within days, poisoning much of the eco-system for generations to come, the Chernobyl disaster was a release of radiation barely worth mentioning by comparison. It was a final object lesson left to the Goa'uld by Earth that said simply your worlds are fragile too, don't push us too far into a corner or you may not like how we choose to come out fighting.

The Ha'tak were opening fire with their main guns as _Redemption_ jumped back into hyperspace, one shot impacted the shields and interrupted the impromptu chorus of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" being sung by the X-COM Troopers in the now much more spacious cargo bay before the ship passed through the hyperspace window and disappeared, its engines pushed well beyond the recommended limits and Sharp spitting blood because the jarring impact of the energy against the shields had caused him to bite his tongue as he joined in the singing.

When Anubis personally arrived to inspect the damage wrought he was so enraged that he did not even bother to kill any of his Jaffa, he did however maim one severely when the Taur'ri sent him a device containing a video recording of the events taken from the bombing craft. He vowed never to underestimate their resourcefulness again and plotted his next move as his self-professed experts in Tau'ri culture tried to determine the hidden meaning behind the small image painted on the device, a caricature of a human child, one arm outstretched and saying "Hah-Ha!" in Tau'ri script.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Cobalt Bombs are a horrible idea but if you want to cause a lot of long-lasting devastation they're a viable weapon (best deployed on someone elses planet). I got the warhead effects for a 1.2 gigaton detonation from __here__. In the show they did seem to adopt naquadah-enhanced warheads of that yield as a standard in later series with the really big naquadria-enhanced stuff saved for acts of true unpleasantness. With access to near limitless supplies of weapons-grade naquadah X-COM will naturally be stockpiling high-yield nuclear ordinance for a rainy day and have plenty to spare to rain on other people. _

_In the show there were far more Ha'tak in orbit so the bombing run would have been much harder to get away with but then Anubis wasn't fighting a major war with Apophis so defences would logically be lighter in this scenario. The Goa'uld did not seem to embrace WMD like Earth does (especially X-Com Earth where they throw around nuclear-tipped Air-to-Air Missiles like confetti), so this kind of operation wouldn't be in their usual playbook. Add in the unexpected craft used and the general confusion and I can see this working. On the downside the days of being badly underestimated are over, alas the formerly ascended System Lord is not going to get blindsided so easily again by Tau'ri tricks and it's not like he really cares how many Jaffa are killed or worlds are rendered lifeless._

_Hope you liked the Dr Strangelove and Simpson's references and remember that reviews are nice_ :-)


	29. Chapter 29

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Unknown Hat'ak Ship – L5 Lagrange Point (Earth/Moon System) – June 2002**

Turning a corner at the junction of two corridors O'Neill threw himself to the deck, the staff-blast barely missing him as he landed awkwardly. His reflexes had saved him again but the next shot wouldn't miss he knew, he was too easy a target even for a Jaffa using one of those god-awful to aim things.

The black-clad warrior, Anise had said they were the elite of Anubis Armies after he explained what they were wearing to her on the radio after running into them earlier, never got the chance to finish the job. Before he could put a bolt of plasma into the sprawling human a beam of coherent light from behind neatly speared him through the head and he dropped to the deck instantly, his partially destroyed brain leaking from the scorched entry and exit wounds in his skull. 'Secure the corridors left and right' a voice ordered and as O'Neill felt a wave of relief flow through him he watched a squad in X-COM uniforms and breastplate torso armour move swiftly to obey their officers instructions. 'Colonel O'Neill?' the officer queried.

'Nice timing Captain...?' O'Neill replied, waiting for the name.

'Gaston Sir, Jake Gaston' the officer told him, giving him a hand up. 'Sorry we took our time getting up here after being transported over from _Enterprise_' he said. 'Since we got your call that there were still Jaffa aboard this thing, and that they objected to our salvage attempt, we've been sweeping up from the flight bays' he explained. There were several ring transporters on a goa'uld vessel this size and after SG-1 had secured the bridge and reported all-clear, precipitately as it turned out, Colonel Caldwell commanding the Tau'ri flagship had sent additional troops over to secure the rest of the derelict ship. There were a veritable legion of salivating engineers who wanted to get aboard the ship and see how much of its technology was improved from the basic ha'tak they were familiar with, but there was no way Caldwell was going to risk the best and brightest Earth had to offer until the most belligerent and blood-thirsty had secured it to his satisfaction.

'Better late than never Gaston' O'Neill replied, getting to his feet. He looked young to be a Captain, O'Neill thought to himself, not too much over twenty-one at a guess, but promotion in X-COM could be pretty fast. You just needed talent, well, that and have enough people above you in the chain of command getting themselves killed in action to free up the ranks.

'So what's our next move Sir?' Gaston asked.

'There's an infestation on this ship I want dealt with, think you can handle that Captain?' O'Neill responded.

Gaston tapped his L2-A2 Laser Rifle. 'Until last month when I got transferred to _Enterprise_ with my squad I was clearing Muton's out of Loki's ships for a living' he replied. 'This is what we live for' he declared confidently. X-COM UFO Retrieval Teams usually worked with smaller vessels than this, even the largest Sectoid ship was only three decks in height and about seventy-five metres across, but the tactics used to clear them were much the same. 'Where's the rest of SG-1 Sir?' he asked. The Captain knew that O'Neill had earlier ringed aboard the ship with his whole team plus the Tok'ra Anise and a couple of human scientists specialising in Goa'uld tech once [i]Enterprise[i] had taken up position next to the new arrival.

'Teal'c and Carter went to the computer core, Andianov and Jonas are up with Anise on the pel'tak' O'Neill replied.

'That's the bridge right?' Gaston checked, earning a nod of reply, 'sorry my Goa'uld is almost non-existent' he admitted. 'At least this thing looks like it's mostly laid out the same as the _Enterprise_' the young X-COM Captain continued, 'we've been familiarising ourselves with the layout the last few weeks so we should be okay' he said.

'We don't know how many there are aboard' O'Neill told him. 'Life-sign scans showed the ship was like the Marie Celeste but when I ran into that guy and his friend near the shield generators I started to suspect that wasn't exactly one-hundred percent accurate' he wryly observed.

Gaston chuckled. 'I guess his friend was the corpse I passed on the way up here?' he checked.

'Looked like a ninja wannabe, big sword lying next to him and a big hole in his chest?' O'Neill asked. 'Yeah that was him' he confirmed after Gaston nodded.

'We'll do a sweep and clear deck by deck' Gaston told O'Neill, 'we'll try to take a prisoner alive if we can' he added.

'Don't risk any of your troops just to capture a Jaffa' O'Neill responded, 'I know it's X-COM SOP to take the enemy alive for interrogation but the Goa'uld don't tell their grunts shit' he told the Captain frankly. 'If you can get one safely do it, otherwise just kill them' he advised, 'this ship is a better prize than any intel we'll get from a Jaffa POW' he said. 'I already lost one man today' O'Neill continued, he had been escorting a scientist named Friesen who had wandered off to check out the ships shield generators and ran into the Jaffa holdouts still aboard, 'and I don't want us to lose anyone else' he told Gaston earnestly.

Captain Gaston thought that it would be well worth losing more people if the payoff was a ship like this, but he knew he was operating from an X-COM standpoint which saw it perfectly acceptable to sacrifice large numbers of personnel in return for alien technology and intelligence. O'Neill was the commanding officer on this mission and he set the rules of engagement here. 'Okay people this is a sweep and clear by the numbers' he said into his radio microphone, 'taking prisoners is low priority' he instructed, 'don't get hurt' he added.

'I'm going to head out and leave you to it Captain' O'Neill told Gaston, 'can I borrow one of your men to reinforce my team just in case?' he requested.

'Yes Sir' Gaston replied, 'Trooper Kemp you're assigned to Colonel O'Neill here' he told the closest squad member. 'With your permission Sir we'll get to work' he addressed O'Neill.

'Go to it Captain' O'Neill told him, Gaston and his command minus the single X-COM soldier now left with the Colonel moving off. They would go through the ship professionally and methodically making sure it was safe for other personnel to come over.

The unexpected arrival of an unidentified Ha'tak so close nearby had nearly caused half the guys watching screens at the SGC and various X-COM Installations to have instantaneous heart attacks. If it had arrived any closer it might have been instantly fired upon by _Enterprise_, but for whatever reason it had dropped out of hyperspace at the gravitationally stable L5 Lagrangian Point following the moon in its own orbit some three-hundred and eighty thousand kilometres from Earth and had simply remained there apparently inert and derelict while a decision was taken to investigate it.

With Anise already present on _Enterprise_ she was the ideal candidate to check out the unknown ship, and after SG-1 was transferred up to join her and a small team of experts the Ha'tak already in Earth's hands had been moved to within weapons range of its near twin. It stood ready to obliterate the newcomer if required and as an added precaution a high-yield nuclear warhead had been transported across with Anise and SG-1, if they had to destroy the ship they could do so with the push of a button.

O'Neill arrived at the computer core with his escort and they were met by Carter who was working on the core, Teal'c stood ready to defend her and the room from any other Jaffa remnants left aboard. 'Sir as I thought this is definitely the ship Anubis used to destroy Thor's vessel and the one he was detained upon' Carter told O'Neill as she worked on the core. 'I think Thor may have sabotaged the ships computer when he was connected to it by Anubis' she theorised, 'while Anubis tried to hack into Thor's mind, Thor hacked the ship in the other direction and maybe left behind a computer virus' she said. 'We know the computer sealed off the sections that might have been used by the crew to disable the ship and it stopped the self-destruct they tried to set' Carter noted, they had to blast the door down to get in here, the computer had sealed itself off.

'Oh you've got to love that guy' O'Neill declared. 'Way to go Thor' he added with a mental salute. The Asgard was still in a coma after they got him back from Anubis but it sounded like the little grey guy had managed to screw the goa'uld son-of-a-bitch good before going out. 'So the reason we found all the escape pods launched was that they couldn't take back the ship from the little present Thor left them and they had to abandon ship?' he queried.

'Most likely explanation' Carter replied, 'Anise thinks so too, she's trying to re-establish control from the bridge while I get the computer working again' she said, 'We might need to re-boot the whole system though, a virus might not be able to tell the difference between us and the enemy even if we think Thor left a sub-routine that told the ship to fly here to Earth and then power-down.'

'Oh yeah, screw Anubis _good_!' O'Neill enthused. 'The shields on this thing resisted the guns on an Asgard Beliskner, Thor would want the design to get back to his people so he sends it to Earth because we'll make sure the Asgard get to take a look' he said.

'Heimdall is based on Earth' Teal'c noted, 'she is likely the closest Asgard available plus the Tau'ri have close ties with both the Tok'ra and Tollan who would also likely be very interested in the new technology Anubis is using' he said.

'And Earth gets ourselves another damn ship into the bargain' O'Neill added brightly.

'So this ship is here as a present?' Kemp the X-COM Private asked, he had been watching the door weapon ready, but was listening in with interest.

'That and as a hearty fuck-you to Anubis I'm guessing' O'Neill replied.

'_Colonel O'Neill this is Colonel Caldwell on the Enterprise are you receiving me?_' the radio headsets they were wearing crackled to life.

'Go ahead Colonel' O'Neill replied.

'_We've been recalled to deal with a major attack by Sectoid ships_' Caldwell reported, '_They are using a new type of escort fighter that is superior to our F-302's and there are too many for planetary defence squadrons and the Redemption to handle alone_' he continued. '_Do you wish to return to Enterprise?_' he asked.

'Negative Colonel, you get going, we can deal with a few Jaffa' O'Neill replied.

'_We'll be back once the enemy have been driven off_' Caldwell told them. '_Enterprise out_' he said.

'Fucking bugs probably saw the Enterprise was further out than normal and decided to throw a major raid at us to take advantage' Kemp hissed.

'It's what we'd do if the situation was reversed Trooper' O'Neill pointed out. The main guns on a Ha'tak could blow a Sectoid Battleship to pieces with one shot, having the Enterprise standing guard made any visits Loki's forces made to Earth very costly. 'New fighters too?' he continued, shaking his head, 'could be a bad day for our Reaper guys' he said regretfully.

'_This is Captain Gaston_' the radio spoke up again. '_We have encountered a number of Jaffa who were heading towards the bridge and are engaging them_' the X-COM officer reported. '_Suggest the bridge be sealed off until we can eliminate them_' he advised.

'_I am doing so_' the Tok'ra Anise who had been listening in signalled back from the bridge.

'Andianov, Jonas' O'Neill transmitted, 'you keep those Jaffa out of there, but if they get in nuke the ship' he ordered.

'_Yes Sir_' Andianov responded. '_We will not permit them the chance to regain control of this vessel so close to the motherworld_' she said with finality.

'_It's not my motherworld but okay_' Jonas added with an audible gulp, he hadn't expected to end his first trip into space quite that way but he knew it was the right thing to do.

'Always have a naquada-enhanced backup plan' O'Neill told the others. 'Worst case scenario is a draw, _they_ don't get to win regardless' he said.

'_Colonel O'Neill this is Anise_' the radio said. '_I have just detected several ships approaching which were not picked up by my sensors until they were practically on top of us_' she reported.

'Goa'uld?' O'Neill asked, 'Anubis trying to get his ship back?' he queried.

'_They appear to be of Sectoid construction which would explain why our sensors did not detect them_' Anise replied, Loki had deliberately designed his vessels to be hard to track with Goa'uld or Asgard equipment, oddly it was easier with the far more primitive radar equipment Earth used.

'Another wave of ships heading to Earth?' O'Neill asked.

'_No they are on an intercept course with ourselves_' Anise told him, '_they are decelerating, I think... I think they are planning to board_' she said. '_If they were going to attack they would have already, they are well within weapons range_' she opined.

'They're going to _board_?' O'Neill asked incredulously.

'Maybe Loki wants the tech too?' Carter suggested, 'this ship did defeat an Asgard ship remember.'

'Well he can't fucking have it' O'Neill declared, 'finders keepers losers weepers' he said determinedly, if in a slightly childish turn of phrase.

'_Three ships of Sectoid Battleship configuration have latched onto the hull on the lower decks_' Anise reported, '_they are burning through with plasma_.'

O'Neill put on a determined expression. 'Captain Gaston, I think we're about to get into a three-way firefight with Anubis boys and Loki's boys for possession of this ship' he transmitted.

'_I guess I should have been more specific when I wished for a three-way when I blew out the candles on the cake last birthday Sir_' Gaston replied deadpan. '_Don't worry Colonel, nobody goes down harder than X-COM_' he said, '_Just ask my girlfriend_' he added, the sound of both firing snd laughter near his position audible in the background.

Carter grinned, 'You've got to give them credit' she said, 'they know how to laugh in the face of danger' she said.

O'Neill smiled as well. 'Trooper Kemp watch out for Major Carter here' he ordered, 'Teal'c let's go lend a hand to the Captain' he continued. 'Carter shoot out the computer core if anyone not on our team tries to get in' he told her. 'This ship belongs to Earth or no one' he declared.

'Yes Sir' Carter responded. 'I'll show the Trooper here where to shoot the core too if I'm incapacitated' she added as the burst of what sounded like random static or noise came from the ships intercom. It had been periodically doing that since they arrived.

O'Neill got his Laser Rifle ready. 'Let's roll, Teal'c' he said, leading off.

'This should be a great battle O'Neill' Teal'c responded, following on behind.

Kemp watched them leave. 'You don't think we're going to miss all the fun do you Major?' he asked Carter glumly.

'No member of SG-1 has _ever_ been that lucky' Carter replied, getting back to work.

**Kerguelen Islands (Southern Indian Ocean) – Earth – June 2002**

Cameron Mitchell watched his lasers eat into the hull of the new model alien saucer for a brief second before the enemy fighter pulled into another hard turn. 'What the hell are these things made of?' he hissed through gritted teeth as he tried to get it back into his sights. It certainly wasn't the same stuff as the smaller Type 1 fighters, it was too resistant to damage and when it did burn under laser fire it was the wrong colour entirely.

What had started as a small dogfight between a flight of three F-302's from the base in Antarctica and half a dozen Foo Fighters escorting a trio of battleships had rapidly grown out of all proportion as the unfamiliar new type of craft tore in from above in what seemed like an ambush. Both X-COM and the invader began feeding more and more fighters into the battle as it continued to escalate with now perhaps a hundred and fifty human and alien fighters caught up in what was by far the largest aerial battle of the war so far.

Getting back on the tail of his opponent, if a saucer-shaped craft could in fact be described as having a "tail" it being difficult at a glance to distinguish the front and back of the alien fighter, Mitchell lined up his shot again and triggered both his lasers and this time the two plasma beam cannon his F-302X carried, one slung on a pylon under each wing. With a low rate of fire they were usually reserved for use against the slower, less manoeuvrable alien ships rather than their nimble escorts but he wanted a kill and they packed considerably more punch than his lasers.

The bright green beams sliced into the Type 2 Saucer, only momentarily held back by its armoured hull material before they hit something important and it exploded into a fireball. 'Hell yeah!' Mitchell howled in triumph as the debris impacted his shield causing it to flare up as the bubble of energy surrounded his craft deflected away the heat and kinetic energy.

Other human pilots were not having such a good day, close by an F-302X _Grim Reaper_ exploded into fragments itself, shield eventually depleted by multiple plasma hits from the two alien saucers chasing it and the next volley blowing it apart the pilot having no chance to eject. 'You're not going home to boast to your buddies about that' Mitchell vowed under his breath, bringing his fighter around to engage one of the responsible saucers.

Caught up in the middle of the fight a Sectoid Battleship suddenly seemed to stop dead in mid-air and simply fell from the sky with all the aerodynamic grace of a brick. It was still falling towards the ocean when another large ship of a different design tore right through the midst of the dog-fight four large particle beam cannon discharging into another alien battleship gouging holes in its hull.

Forward facing main guns blazing, and now point-defence laser turrets firing in all directions targeting alien saucers to help out the F-302's _Redemption_ had arrived to add its weight to the battle. First using her teleporter to beam away the elerium engine of one of the three largest alien ships then with shields raised she was now using her particle-cannon to engage a second one.

The Sectoid battleship retaliated, firing back with its elerium powered plasma-beam weapon, more powerful than the ones the F-302's carried, the beam eating into the upgraded shields on the Redemption. 'Kill that fucking thing' Captain Tanner on the _Redemption_ growled as his ship fired again, its own less powerful beam weapons striking the unshielded enemy craft once again. That was the only advantage _Redemption_ had but it was a good one, the deflector shields Loki used didn't work in an atmosphere.

Smaller than the battleship _Redemption_ was nonetheless the largest human craft engaged in the fight and her intervention had momentarily shifted the fight more towards X-COM's favour, her point-defence guns putting the hurt on the smaller saucers as her main armament directed its fury on her opposite number. A second blast of plasma-beam fire from the battleship nearly depleted her shields entirely and the third was going to hurt _bad_, the crew knew, but they were soldiers and this was their job. They had hid from the fight once but never again, this wasn't their homeworld but it was a _human_ world and that was enough. 'The moment our shields go down and we can use the transporter again beam the engine of that fucking thing into our hold' Tanner ordered.

'Sir when the shield goes those fighters are going to be all over our ass' Ted the ship's weapons officer pointed out as he continued to fire the ships guns.

'Our hull should be able to take a few hits before we have to get out of here' Tanner replied, 'support our fighters as long as we can' he ordered.

'I guess that leave we were promised is cancelled?' Martin commented. 'We'll have to help fix the ship first' he said.

'Crap, I had tickets booked for the fight at Caesars Palace' Ted complained.

'Boxing is a barbaric sport' Tanner observed, 'the people on this planet are thugs' he opined. 'Will you kill that prick already' he snarled as another beam of green plasma struck _Redemption_, this time overloading the shields and tearing into her hull, making the ship shudder violently.

'Teleporter has failed' Martin reported, 'that hit cut the power conduits to the system' he said.

'Shit' Tanner swore.

_Redemption_ fired its particle cannon again, this time causing a critical hit and exploding one of the battleships three elerium engines. It lurched sideways, then with a bright secondary explosion that rippled across its hull it began to tumble towards Earth. 'Got the bastard' Ted said with a vicious grin.

Cameron Mitchell momentarily watched the second alien battleship plummet as he pulled into a tight turn to try and lose the saucer now on his own tail. He knew that the aliens suffered morale problems too, they could panic and run away just like humans if you put them under enough pressure.

The third battleship was now swinging around to fire on _Redemption_, it had been busy until now with a pair of Reapers but they had been driven off by the alien ship's escorts and it was now free to engage the human ship, with shields down _Redemption_ wouldn't stand up too long under the punishment it could deliver.

A huge thunderbolt from above streaked down from the stratosphere and impacted the battleship, blowing it apart with a single shot. '_Enterprise_' Mitchell realised with another howl of triumph. Another squadron of F-302's bearing the markings of those now assigned to Earth's flagship now came hurtling into the fight too, scrambled from the captured Goa'uld mothership now in orbit directly overhead.

The handful of scientists watching from their biological research station on the Kerguelen Islands nearby had no idea what was going on high above. The French government which owned the islands had been reporting a great deal of unusual meteor activity going on the last couple of years so they guessed it was another of the wave of meteor storms, it all looked very pretty though they thought and made a nice change from the normal routine.

The team manning the satellite tracking station also based on the island knew better but they were affiliated with X-COM too like almost all other agency watching the skies right around the world. One advantage a UN organisation had was that almost every government was already in on the secret and they cooperated to keep it concealed from the entire planet, the pre-X-COM involvement SGC never had that kind of freedom of action.

The firework display eventually died down and the scientists went back to work, one swore later that he saw an aircraft with strange markings swoop down low over the Islands and do what he thought was a victory roll before heading north-west at a phenomenal speed but the others just thought he'd been at the cognac again.

**Unknown Hat'ak Ship – L5 Lagrange Point (Earth/Moon System) – June 2002**

'Anise what the hell is going on with the doors?' O'Neill yelled into his headset as yet another one slammed shut in front of his face.

'_I don't know Colonel_' the Tok'ra replied from the ships bridge. '_I think Major Carter repaired the internal sensors, I am tracking Jaffa and three unidentified species the ship doesn't recognise through the ship_' she said. '_The doors seem to have a life of their own I have no ability to control them_.'

'_I didn't repair the sensors they just came back on by themselves_' Carter interrupted from the computer core.

'I'm trying to flank the guys trying to flank Gaston and his men but every time I get close a door seals me off from them' O'Neill complained, Teal'c was getting annoyed too, he looked angry, you could tell by the very slight change in his expression.

'_You should be grateful Colonel_' Anise responded, '_an airlock just opened and vented the atmosphere in the section ahead of you_' she told him. '_Several of the creatures that arrived on Loki's vessels have been ejected into space_' she said.

'Carter that virus Thor left behind is making the ship go crazy' O'Neill told her. 'Get rid of it before I get sucked into space' he ordered.

'_I'm trying Sir_' Carter replied.

'_This is very strange_' Anise announced curiously. '_The doors are opening and closing in a distinct pattern_' she said. '_They seem to be channelling the Jaffa and Loki's forces towards each other and preventing either of the two groups manoeuvring behind the human troops_' she continued. '_It's very unlikely this is random_' she opined.

'Weird' O'Neill responded in surprise. 'Loki's boys will slaughter the Jaffa, they don't have the hardware to take on that kind of opposition' he said.

'Indeed' Teal'c agreed, Staff-Weapons would need multiple hits to bring down the more formidable opponents such as Muton's and the creatures were near-immune to zat'nik'tel discharges thanks to the organic armour bonded to their skin.

'_More doors are opening in sequence_' Anise reported, '_the Jaffa now have access to the ships main armoury_' she said.

'The armoury holds portable Staff-Cannon and large numbers of Goa'uld Shock Grenades' Teal'c noted, 'those would give the Jaffa a much better chance to acquit themselves well in battle' he said. 'This is very convenient turn of events O'Neill' he said suspiciously. 'Our enemies may weaken each other considerably, the Jaffa are the elite of Anubis Armies and will surely inflict some losses before we have to deal with Loki's troops ourselves' he reasoned.

'I agree' O'Neill replied, 'Carter, Anise, there's something going on here and I want to know what it is' he said.

'_Another small group of Loki's soldiers have been vented into space_' Anise announced. '_The majority of others are further inside the ship and are sealing the doors behind them to prevent it occurring any more_' she continued.

'What's the count?' O'Neill asked.

'_I make it twenty-eight Jaffa and a combined fifty-seven of the other enemy troops remaining Colonel_' Anise answered. '_They will encounter each other within minutes at their current rates of advance_' she said. '_Many of Loki's forces are still heading for the shield and hyperdrive generators however, they appear to be blasting their way through the doors with powerful explosive devices_.'

'Elerium grenades I'll bet' O'Neill supposed, they had more explosive yield than a whole satchel load of plastic explosives. 'Any heading for the computer core?' he asked.

'_Not as yet, as Major Carter will be pleased to hear I'm sure_' Anise told him.

'_Colonel O'Neill this is Gaston, I've been listening in, do you want us to back off and let the aliens fight it out between themselves_?' the X-COM officer asked.

'Just stop either group making it up to the bridge, otherwise let them soften each other up Captain' O'Neill replied. 'Call it Operation Vulture, swoop in and chew up what's left afterwards' he instructed.

'_I hate leftovers but understood Sir, Gaston Out_' the Captain responded.

Across the other side of the great ship, and a deck above the one O'Neill was on, the first Jaffa to see a Muton had no idea what the hell the hulking great creature was but decided that shooting at it was the best course of action. This was in fact an error of judgement as he discovered when the blast of plasma from his staff weapon splashed on its torso leaving a blackened and scorched wound but causing insufficient actual damage to do much more than make the alien scream in pain and become extremely angry.

The genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced Muton soldier retaliated in kind and fired back with it's own plasma weapon, a more accurate and considerably more powerful Heavy Plasma Rifle. The bright green bolt of energy blew a hole right through the Jaffa large enough to fit the Muton's own very large fist through and so began a fierce exchange of fire between the two sides which rapidly escalated as more and more got involved.

'Okay, now this is sweet' O'Neill stated a few minutes later, as moving through the ship he rounded another corner and in the distance at the end of the corridor saw green and white balls of energy hurtling back and forth as the two alien factions fought for territory. The Jaffa were clearly being forced back but as he watched a Muton was blown in half by a Staff-Cannon blast, the Jaffa much have bought it up after deciding they needed more firepower as Teal'c thought they would so it certainly wasn't all a one way affair.

A familiar feeling in his mind caused O'Neill to wince. 'Psionics' he hissed. 'Carter we've got telepaths in the house, if they come calling on that big brain of yours make sure Kemp hits you with a zat' he ordered into his radio. Carter had very low resistance to psionic attack. 'Jonas you out there?' he asked.

'_I'm here Colonel_' Jonas Quinn responded from the bridge.

'Now would be a good time to try out that Psi Amp Jonas' O'Neill advised. 'What are we dealing with here?' he asked.

On the bridge Jonas unhooked the Psionic Amplifier from his belt and switched it on. Although with the device he was the second strongest telepath ever encountered by X-COM, after Cassandra Fraser, he had never used the ability outside of controlled conditions. 'Here goes nothing' he said to Sergeant Andianov as he cranked up the amplifier's power output and reached out across the ship with his mind.

Alien intelligences were everywhere, he touched each in turn finding Jaffa and Muton's first, then Sectoid Engineers looking for the upgraded systems Anubis had fitted to the ship and finally he encountered minds that seemed alien but somehow similar to his own. Ethereals, the strongest psionics Loki had yet produced with his DNA tampering.

An Ethereal detected Jonas and fought back mentally, Jonas found he was able to easily keep the alien from his own mind and retaliated in kind. 'Fear me' he telepathically told the Ethereal who immediately dropped the weapon it was carrying and collapsed into a gibbering wreck on the deck. Cool, Jonas thought happily, adopting a word he had heard Colonel O'Neill use and he connected to another Ethereal trying something more ambitious.

Near the hyperdrive an Ethereal suddenly stopped what it was doing and turning and raising the plasma pistol it was carrying emptied half the clip into the back of a Muton. The great alien footsoldier fell and the Ethereal then shot dead a very confused Sectoid before finally putting the pistol to the side of its own head and pulling the trigger.

On the bridge Jonas suddenly turned and threw up on the deck. Apparently causing something to commit suicide when you were controlling its mind was a bad idea he had just discovered, the feeling was quite unpleasant in the extreme. 'Are you okay?' Andianov asked.

'Not really' Jonas replied, 'give me a second' he added as the feeling of nausea subsided.

Anise looked none too happy. 'The Goa'uld have slaves to clear up something like that' she said, 'we don't, try not to do that again' she requested.

'Unexpected side-effect' Jonas replied, taking a swig of water from his canteen. 'On the plus side I just proved I'm a stronger telepath than an Ethereal' he said.

'Do they have stronger stomachs?' Andianov asked him sarcastically.

In the computer core Carter finally figured out what was going on with the ship. 'Colonel O'Neill, Thor didn't leave a virus behind, he left himself behind' she said.

'_What_?' came the incredulous reply.

'Thor must have downloaded his entire consciousness into the ships computer, Anubis couldn't get rid of it so the majority of the crew abandoned ship once Thor took over completely' Carter told him. The self-destruct was activated so Thor had to shut down certain higher-level systems to stop it and then directed the Ha'tak towards Earth where he might find some help' she said.

'_You're shitting me_?' O'Neill replied, '_no offence Major_' he added.

'None taken Sir' Carter replied. 'We've seen the transfer of a complete consciousness to a machine before such as our Android Duplicates' she said. 'Sir the Asgard might be able to put in back into a clone, that might have been what Thor was thinking' she suggested.

'_So it's been Thor helping us out_?' O'Neill asked. '_Screwing with the Jaffa and the other alien assholes_?'

'That would be my guess Colonel' Carter told him. 'He could be listening to us right now' she said. 'The ship did give the Jaffa access to the armoury right after you suggested they needed more firepower, the sound coming from the intercom is likely Thor's garbled speech' she noted.

'_Excellent_' O'Neill responded. '_Thanks Thor buddy_' he added, hoping he wasn't just addressing a computer virus.

'_The Jaffa are in full retreat after taking heavy losses_' Anise reported. '_And Jonas has regurgitated his full stomach after taking ill_' she added confusingly.

'_Okay_' O'Neill replied, '_Thor if you can hear me let the big green guys through and then open the doors so our people can get behind them and shoot some lasers up their ass_' he said. '_With luck we can pin Loki's jerks in a crossfire_' he said. Muton's were big and tough but they were dumb as hell.

'Sir the shield generators are back on-line, I think the aliens have managed to get control of that part of the system' Carter announced, looking at a display.

'_The Enterprise is heading back in this direction_' Anise told them by way of explanation. '_If the aliens are able to power the weapons as well this ship will likely be able to destroy our own Ha'tak_' she pointed out, the ship they were on was greatly upgraded from the standard model she knew.

'_Screw that_' O'Neill responded. '_Gaston we need to kick some ass before we lose a perfectly good mothership, either Enterprise or this one because we blow it up ourselves_' he said.

'_Ready for action Colonel_' Captain Gaston replied, '_I wish we had a few P3-A1 Heavy Plasma's though_' he added, mentioning the X-COM copy of the heaviest weapon Loki's forces used '_You need a few good hits with an L2-A2 to bring down a Muton_' he noted.

'Do what you can with what you've got Captain' O'Neill told him. 'It's time Thor' he continued, 'Gaston when those doors open you move' he ordered.

Captain Jake Gaston got his Laser Rifle ready and prepared to lead his squad into action again, if they timed this right they could take out at least a few enemy soldiers cheaply and level the playing field a little against a stronger, tougher and better-armed opponent.

A door slid open to his right. 'Up and at 'em X-COM!' he yelled and started to move, his troops hot on his heels as they pounded up the metal deck, each door before them opening in turn as they arrived at it.

The human soldiers from half a dozen nations crashed into the rear of the Muton advance against the remaining Jaffa and concentrating their fire cut down the first few they encountered. Laser and plasma fire scorched flesh and burned through armour as the three-way battle degenerated into near chaos. O'Neill and Teal'c threw themselves into the fray as Jonas Quinn regained his composure and once again started to deal with the smaller numbers of Ethereals who had come aboard.

In the aftermath the familiar smell of burned flesh and the sound of moans filled the rooms and corridors where the fighting had been most intense. All of the human wounded and even some of the dead would be saved by hand-held healing devices and the use of captured sarcophagi but the Jaffa and Muton dead would not be so fortunate. 'There's still a few of the fuckers left' Gaston told his troops as they shot and stunned any remaining enemy soldiers. Wounded troopers able to do so used their medi-kits to inject painkillers and stimulants and a trooper trained to use a goa'uld hand-held healing device was treating the most severe injuries in turn. It took great practice to master the device, plus an injection of both naquada and goa'uld genetic markers to operate it at all, but it was a literal life-saver in the field.

'If we can re-take the shield generator room we can lower them and get reinforcements sent over from the Enterprise to help deal with the rest' O'Neill told him. 'What are your losses?' he asked more quietly.

'Seven dead, at least three permanently' Gaston replied evenly, anything short of getting your head blown off was usually recoverable these days so there were different grades of KIA. 'Pretty light considering' he added.

'Too damn many' O'Neill replied, too damn young he added to himself, looking down at the broken corpse of a blond girl who looked like she should still be at high-school. That could just be his age though, he thought sadly, anyone under thirty looked twelve these days.

'Alright Troopers, you heard the Colonel, let's take that fucking shield generator' Gaston ordered.

'Teal'c take point' O'Neill told him. 'The rest of you follow me' he ordered.

'Long way from home to die' Gaston observed as they double-timed towards their destination.

'Lot closer to home than where I've lost people before Captain' O'Neill told him. Anywhere in the Solar System was practically Earth's doorstep when you were used to stargate travel. 'This is home turf' he said.

'Think the aliens will eventually get the idea we don't like them coming here without an invite?' Gaston asked.

'I think we're doing a damn fine job of getting the message across' O'Neill replied. 'Of course they ain't always that bright' he added.

'Depends how much you nuke them' Gaston observed thoughtfully.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_A fair re-write of episode 6:03 __Descent__ here with __Anise__ the Tok'ra involved not __Jacob__ and Loki dealing himself into the game. There are more Jaffa aboard the derelict ship than there were in the show, I thought it needed a better showing from them to make the fight more interesting._

_Jake Gaston is taken from the "notebook" that came with the manual to **XCOM: Terror from the Deep**. He was a young officer in the First Alien War (1999-2002) recalled to action in the Second Alien War (2041-2046). I'm planning to have him as a character on the Atlantis mission in the sequel Fic to this one so I thought it was time to introduce him._

_Hope you enjoyed the epic air-battle, hope it reads okay. I thought it was time Redemption got a chance to beat up on a Sectoid Battleship or two and we see it operate fine in an atmosphere in SG-1 so I thought why not throw a decent size ship into the fray. The new fighters mentioned are the Type 2 __Alien fighters__ from **XCOM: Interceptor** (known as the Spectre). These were considerably better than the Type 1 (called a "Foo Fighter" in this Fic, a "Wraith" in the game which I thought was a tad too confusing) and Loki has thrown them in now to ensure that Earth re-deploys it's most powerful asset away from the new vessel he has designs upon. _

_In **X-COM Interceptor** the Type 2 "Spectre" fighter had superior hull material and armour to the Type 1. In the game it says of the stuff: "Study of the remains of more advanced alien ships shows that the aliens have apparently abandoned Tri-Titanium alloys in favor of a lighter, stronger material. Although there is no trace of this alien metal on any of the explored planets in Terran space..." so as per my usual efforts to merge the two canon the unknown alien metal from Interceptor is the Trinium from Stargate which is also very light, very strong and not known on Earth. _

_A couple of final points, firstly I'd like to advise any readers of this Fic here to read the version over on Twisting the Hellmouth instead (it's better, there's a link to it on my profile here) and secondly this is by far my most popular Fic but only a tiny minority even of those of those who have chosen to get an update alert, or have this Fic set as a Favourite, have ever reviewed. Review numbers attract more readers, could you please do me a favour and help me out by letting others know you like this story and reviewing occasionally, this is chapter 29 people... you at least owe me one measly review surely ;-)_


	30. Chapter 30

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2002**

Major General George Hammond narrowly managed to avoid colliding with the skimpily attired and seemingly irate young women who came stamping out of Commander Sharp's office followed by the sound of raucous laughter.

'That man is intolerable' Anise told Hammond pointedly before continuing on her way down the corridor, clearly seething from some slight.

'Don't let the rings hit you on the ass on the way out' Sharp called out loudly after her from his office before resuming his laughing.

Hammond looked in quizzically. 'Private joke?' he asked as the Tok'ra stormed away.

'I don't think it was meant to be funny but it nearly killed me' Sharp replied, fighting back the laughter and wiping away a tear. 'Take a load off George' he added, indicating a chair which Hammond took after walking into the office, closing the door behind him.

'So what did Anise say to you anyway?' Hammond asked.

Sharp grinned. 'She passed on a message from the Tok'ra leadership' he said. 'They say that since we already have one Ha'tak already it would be a nice gesture if we gave them the new one once it's operational again' he continued before breaking out into convulsive laughter again. Anise had not appreciated it when his response to her request had been uncontrolled mirth.

Hammond couldn't help but laugh as well, not just because it was infectious. The notion that X-COM would offer the keys to their shiny new Goa'uld Mothership to the Tok'ra because they asked nicely was ludicrous beyond belief, he himself might have been willing to _loan_ it to the Tok'ra, with an SGC Crew aboard, but they had drastically erred in their reading of the X-COM psyche if they thought that particular organisation would do so much as that, let alone gift the ship to them. 'I imagine we'll need to send a more formal reply to the Tok'ra leadership?' he asked.

'I'll have something more diplomatic than derision typed up' Sharp replied still highly entertained by the. 'Still it makes the requests we've had from the Asgard and Tollan for unlimited access to the ship seem a lot more reasonable' he decided. 'Seems everyone wants a piece of that ship' he said.

'The technology is way above what the Goa'uld had prior to Anubis showing up' Hammond noted, 'it's not surprising our allies are interested' he pointed out.

Sharp nodded. 'As long as they share any findings with us I don't object to the Asgard, Tok'ra or Tollan crawling all over the thing' he responded. 'They'll probably figure it out a lot faster than we could anyway' he admitted, 'as long as they accept once the back-engineering is finished it's going to have a great big X-COM logo painted on the side of it they can poke around all they like' he said.

'What about Thor?' Hammond queried.

'We offered to try and download his consciousness into ourselves' Sharp replied, 'Carter thinks we'll be able to do it safely enough, she's already disabled the self-destruct' he continued, 'but the Asgard want to do it themselves' he said. 'Heimdall is better at biology than ships apparently so they're sending a technical expert, he'll recover Thor from the ship's computer core onto a portable drive, and look over the new Ha'tak while he's here.'

'Anyone we know?' Hammond asked.

'New one on me anyway, Heimdall says he's called Hermiod' Sharp replied. 'They all look the damn same anyway' he observed. 'Which is too much like Sectoids for my liking' he added.

Hammond smiled gently, on the occasions he had witnessed X-COM personnel in the same room as an Asgard they all looked hopelessly on edge and wearing a pained expression as they fought back the urge to shoot at it. 'And the Tollan are sending someone?' he queried. 'We don't often see them venture out.'

'It's the shield generators, they're pretty confident the Heavy Ion Cannon they're working on will get the job done, even against Anubis, but they want to make certain by checking them out' Sharp replied. 'Also the Tollan are using older model Asgard shields on their Ghostriders and this type of Ha'tak managed to pound down the ones on Thor's Beliskner' he said. 'That makes the Tollan as interested in the main guns as the Asgard are, maybe even more because the reason the Tollan have surplus Asgard shields in the first place is because the little grey guys are scrapping their older ships and replacing them with the O'Neill Class so they don't have to worry as much about the new Goa'uld weaponry.'

'Might be nice to get hold of some of that second-hand Asgard gear ourselves too don't you think though?' Hammond asked rhetorically.

'Wouldn't it just' Sharp agreed. Whilst the terms of the Protected Planet's Treaty greatly limited the technology that the Asgard could supply to Earth, Tollana however was under no such restriction and was the recipient of equipment that although obsolete by Asgard standards was still better than Goa'uld designs. In a one-to-one fight even an aging Beliskner heading for the scrapyard would readily take down the latest Goa'uld ship with all of the enhancements Anubis had added. The problem was that now only an O'Neill Class likely had the shields and firepower to take on multiple upgraded Ha'tak ships whereas in the old days a Beliskner could single-handedly pulverise several Goa'uld motherships at once. It was perhaps fortunate timing for the Asgard that their war with the Replicators had induced them to introduce a new considerably more powerful warship class just as the Goa'uld almost caught up on the one they had been using for many centuries.

'So are we expecting our Asgard and Tollan visitors by ship or stargate?' Hammond queried.

'Stargate' Sharp replied, 'Tollana is on the other side of the galaxy so even with the Goa'uld hyperdrive design we gave them it's still a hell of a long boring trip and the Asgard can't spare a ship to taxi this Hermiod around the universe so he's taking the wormhole express in as well.'

'I'm surprised the Asgard haven't offered the Tollan their old hyperdrives too when they rip them out of their retired ships' Hammond commented.

'Guess they figure those are too advanced for a primitive bunch like the Tollan' Sharp replied with a smirk. The superiority of Asgard Hyperdrive designs over that of others was even more marked than their considerable lead in shield technology, even the vaunted Ancients could not boast a comparably sized and powered ship that could haul-ass across the cosmos like an Asgard vessel, a fact the race was very proud of. The Nox did always point out to the Asgard however that they shouldn't be too smug as their flying city was a lot more impressive than its equivalent Ancient counterpart too, although being Nox they only did so in good humour.

Hammond put on a more serious expression. 'Have we got a final tally on the losses over the Indian Ocean?' he asked.

Sharp looked away, any hint of amusement stripped from his expression. 'We lost over a quarter of our entire fighter strength' he said, 'plus eight more Reapers that will be under repair for weeks' he continued, remembering his dismay when the sealed report landed on his desk. 'Those new fighters Loki threw at us were... shit I'll say it, they're amazing' he admitted. 'If we tried to put F-302's up against them in space where they could use their shields too our people would be slaughtered' he told Hammond frankly. 'They're faster, better rate of climb and acceleration, better manoeuvrability and more durable than the Type 1, and the Foo Fighter already had the edge on the Reaper in a few of those' he noted. 'We're going to classify them the Type 2 Fighter-UFO but the fighter jocks came up with "Spectre" for the things themselves.'

'Why call it a Spectre?' Hammond asked curiously.

'Appears from nowhere and scares the crap out of you' Sharp explained.

'Ah' Hammond responded with a nod of understanding. The advanced electronic counter-measures and stealth technology on Loki's more advanced warcraft meant that they couldn't be readily detected or tracked until they were right on top of you. Radar could lock onto the older model Sectoid ships readily enough, the ones that came into land and hence risked seizure by X-COM UFO Retrieval Teams were heavily downgraded in key areas, but the fighters were something else entirely.

'On the plus side the guys at Area 51 say they'll soon have a new sensor package built around an OPDAR System that'll give our pilots something better than their eyes to work with' Sharp told Hammond in a more up-beat manner.

'Speaking from the perspective of a combat pilot nothing ever beats the Mark One Eyeball trust me' Hammond replied, then paused for a moment 'OPDAR?' he questioned.

'Optical Detection And Ranging' Sharp told him. 'Cameras connected to computers that look for the enemy just like the pilot does, only with much better magnification' he said. 'If you can see the thing then OPDAR will see it too, only much further away, no more only finding out they're there when they start shooting' he explained then a smile returned. 'Technically you could argue that it's a Mark Two Eyeball' he noted with amusement, 'the cameras are based on the eyes of the Android copies of SG-1, their Carter did the R&D, the image recognition software is hers as well, based of the android brains version of our visual cortex, whatever that is.'

'You're telling me that the fighter will see like _we_ do?' Hammond asked him, raising his eyebrows.

'Yes but in more directions at once because there are cameras all over the airframe' Sharp replied, 'if you think _that's_ a creepy concept in itself the camera pupils dilate, and they can blink' he said with a grimace. 'The image recognition AI is supposed to be advanced enough for the aircraft to be able to recognise its own pilot when he approaches' he added.

Hammond couldn't help but grimace too, it was an unsettling notion that an aircraft could actually see and was smart enough to know who you were. After that it wouldn't be long until it politely opened the cockpit for you when you got near, said good morning and asked after the kids when you climbed in. 'Have our people got anywhere with the Foo Fighter we recovered yet?' he asked.

'Nothing substantial according to the last update I was given' Sharp replied. 'If we could get a copy of the things engine at least that would help' he said. 'They're calling it a Gravity/Induction Drive over at Area 51, and its supposed to put out twice as much effective thrust as the standard elerium gravity drive we pulled out of Loki's older ships' he told Hammond. 'They just need to get a copy to work properly but the technology is so far beyond cutting-edge it's not funny' he continued regretfully. 'There's a drastically improved sensor system too which tracks ships by the energy emissions their powerplants and engines put out, but that thing is even more difficult to back-engineer than their drive according to our people.'

'Some alien technology is fiendishly advanced' Hammond observed, 'Goa'uld technology seems to be fairly comprehensible once you've got the basics, or at least our scientists seem to be able to but when you take the step up to say even Tollan levels I've known Sam Carter admit total lack of understanding' he said. 'Loki isn't using Asgard ships or weaponry but he is working with Asgard understanding of science and we won't be there for a long time yet.'

Sharp had to concur, maybe if they had another fifty or sixty years to catch up with the theory they might be able to back-engineer Loki's more advanced ships but they really needed results in that many _weeks_. 'We're pinning our hopes on the Asgard themselves and the Tollan to fill in the gaps' he said. 'The Asgard aren't allowed to give us advanced weaponry because of the Treaty, and the Tollan are still resistant because of long-standing policy, but maybe we can persuade them to enlighten us backward primates as to how our basic physics is wrong.'

'Understand the theory and the practice follows?' Hammond reasoned.

'I hope so George or it's going to be a long and bloody war' Sharp replied gloomily. 'And we'll be playing catch-up two steps behind the whole damn way through.'

**Antarctica – Earth – July 2002**

SG-1 and the personnel already assigned to the Antarctic dig site were far too busy to notice they had incorporeal company, even if they could have sensed it at all. Dispatched to the bottom of the world in the depths of the southern polar winter, it was so cold even Andianov complained about it when she had to go rescue some thin-blooded American from the snow outside, the sense of wonderment they had felt when the young woman who had been dug from the ice came back to life after millions of years had all too quickly been replaced by dismay as the disease she was carrying spread through the ranks.

Not actually powerless to help, but still unable to do so, Daniel watched them try and save each other. Additional medical equipment and a small number of volunteer personnel in hermetically-sealed contamination suits had been beamed in via the _Redemption_ but so far they were having little luck. This was the place where the second stargate had been accidentally discovered by Sam and Jack a few years ago, since then a limited number of other finds had been made, including frozen Jaffa who like the girl had presumably perished in the snow heading to the gate, but the girl herself was the greatest discovery of all, in many ways more important than the gate, she represented the answer to a very large number of questions many of which hadn't even been asked yet.

'I thought I'd find you here' a swirl of light that suddenly appeared told Daniel Jackson as it formed into a familiar figure. 'It's not healthy to spend so much time watching over friends from your old existence' the woman told him. 'Some might even accuse you of voyeurism.... again' she said, looking around.

Daniel turned to face the other ascended being who turned back to him and smiled, the presence of either of them completely undetected by the mortals going about their tasks. 'For the last time I had no idea Sam was going to be in the shower when I went to see her a couple of months ago' he protested, 'shouldn't you be off performing witchcraft somewhere?' he asked sardonically.

'I'm beginning to deeply regret you knowing that I was once known as Morgan Le Fay on your world' Ganos Lal replied. 'your other friends and I were worried' she told him.

'So I guess you drew the short straw and had to come find me?' Daniel asked.

'Chaya did it last time and Orlin is still annoyed about the shower thing' the other Ascended being told him. 'Face it Daniel Jackson, there aren't really many of us who like you enough to bother' she said.

Daniel shrugged. 'I know I'm a pain in the ass' he admitted, 'given what Oma told me about you and Moros I'm surprised you want to hang out with me at all.'

'Over the centuries I've gradually drifted away from the hard-line position of strict non-intervention under all circumstances' Ganos Lal told him. 'You might say I'm more open to weighing up the pros and cons on an individual basis these days.'

'So it wasn't just our recent chats in the diner that did it?' Daniel queried, with mild amusement.

'You're not _that_ persuasive a speaker Daniel' the other ascended being told him with a smile. 'Although I do enjoy our conversations as you know' she added truthfully.

'I don't think Chaya believes you're sincere' Daniel told her. 'Maybe she thinks you're a plant sent to spy on us radical non-conformists?' he suggested, not that their tiny collective of hardcore malcontents and a few sympathisers was remotely numerous to be a threat to the majority consensus. They were more like a support-group than anything else, drinking coffee in a mental construct of an Earth diner and criticising the status-quo to the only audience that listened.

Ganos Lal, laughed. 'No, that's not why she doesn't like me' she said. 'We knew each other as mortals, I was her Elementary School Teacher' she explained. 'I also designed educational computer programs for young children' she told him.

Daniel snapped his fingers. '_That's_ why you remind me of my teacher from 5th Grade' he realised. Ganos Lal had very precise speech and a certain way about the way she said things, informative but also slightly condescending.

'If you're ever in the diner and I walk in the door, anyone that instantly straightens up in their chair used to be one of my pupils' she told him, 'that'll be with them for eternity, you just need to mould them young enough' she said.

'Do you know that young woman they dug out of the ice?' Daniel asked curiously. 'She _is_ an Ancient right?' he asked.

Ganos Lal wandered over to where the confused young woman was trying to heal those she had inadvertently infected with the virus that had been dormant in her frozen cells so long. 'You are right about her identity but no I do not know her, she was around long before my day' she told Daniel. 'Our people still thought of themselves as Alterans then, she must have remained behind when my ancestors left on Atlantis' she reasoned.

'Is Sam right about that being millions of years ago?' Daniel queried.

'When our civilisation in this galaxy collapsed?' Ganos Lal responded, 'yes, your ancestors had only just separated from the evolutionary lines that produced the other apes' she said, 'with the help of a little genetic tampering from ourselves of course' she added. 'A great plague, the one she's carrying, annihilated most of our population and the others fled.'

'You couldn't cure it' Daniel asked.

'Only a small percentage of our people had the healing gift and using it weakens you' Ganos told him. 'Our medical technology did nothing which is why your friend's attempts to use their captured goa'uld sarcophagi or healing devices will fail too' she said. 'They are simply downgraded copies of our own healing devices made by a Goa'uld named Telchak, if it was _that_ simple _we_ would have done it.'

'Did the Goa'uld invent _anything_ themselves?' Daniel asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes.

'Torture devices of various descriptions and some of the most inaccurate hand-weapons in the universe' Ganos Lal replied. 'There's no way we want _those_ attributed to us' she said earnestly. Ideally for their reputation no one would ever find out about the exploding tumours device which was theirs, what _had_ Lantian Military R&D been thinking? Ganos Lal doubted any of her class would have come up with such a moronic idea.

'I guess if I lent her a hand to heal everyone, including herself, that would be a big no-no?' Daniel checked as the ancient mortal the humans had christened Aiyana continued to go about her work trying to save those she had infected, looking visibly weaker herself all the time.

'You know the rules Daniel' Ganos Lal replied with a shrug.

'But she's one of your own people' Daniel protested.

'And still mortal' Ganos Lal noted, 'she may be a Hok'taur, to use that Goa'uld expression your people adopted for those more biologically advanced than yourselves, but she's still mortal nonetheless.'

Daniel looked away dejectedly, if he tried to go ahead and do it anyway the others would stop him, even if Morgan Le Fay there decided to turn a blind eye. 'I don't think I'm cut out for this' he said. 'It hurts too much not to help.'

'You've got eternity Daniel Jackson' Ganos Lal replied, 'it'll get easier in time, once those you knew as a mortal are dead and gone you'll feel less connected to this realm of existence.'

'So you're saying it'll get easier to watch people suffer and not do something about it?' Daniel asked, his voice hardening. 'So I can look forward to being an uncaring asshole? What a glowing, wholesome, moral future lies ahead of me' he retorted sarcastically.

'Non-intervention is a moral decision, once ascended beings start to meddle, use their powers without restraint, they eventually become self-serving and you end up with something far worse than ourselves' Ganos Lal told him. 'You think we do nothing but we've been protecting this galaxy and others from the end result of that process for a _very_ long time.'

Daniel frowned. 'Ever considered there might be a happy medium between those points?' he asked. 'Not too hot, not too cold, but just right?'

'Like the Casa Gruel in the story of Draxius Kol and the Three Unas?' the other ascended being asked, surprised he'd heard of it. The younger children loved that story she remembered.

'I think Moros might have changed a few names when he returned to Earth as a mortal and told it himself' Daniel reasoned. 'But at least we both get the cultural reference.'

'But how much intervention would be truly safe?' Ganos asked.

'I'll go with more than none at least' Daniel replied. 'She's fading fast, she can't save everyone' he pointed out. The disease was severely degenerative and according to Janet when he listened in on her diagnosis it much resembled cerebrospinal meningitis attacking the brain hence her apparent amnesia. 'Do you know what will happen to them?' he asked.

Ganos sighed. 'Those she cannot save? Coma and eventual death' she said. 'My people never encountered a pathogen before or since that was so dangerous' she said. 'Some suspected it was deliberately engineered as an attempt to genocide our entire race' she continued. 'That could have been paranoia however' she noted.

Something occurred to Daniel. 'You do know that if we _were_ to intervene, make the girl stronger so she could heal everyone, nobody would _ever_ know we did anything' he said. 'They would just think it was her ancient physiology at work' he told her.

'She could never heal herself' Ganos Lal told him.

'We could ascend her, she's more evolved than I was and she's using the last of her strength to help others that's got to be worth points even if her mind is mush' Daniel replied.

'She can't ascend like she is, ask Oma Desala if you don't believe me' Ganos told him. 'And in any case that would be a fairly obvious indication that we were, in fact, interfering' she said.

Daniel felt like punching something but the only viable target was his ascended companion and slugging a woman, incorporeal or not, without serious provocation wasn't his forte. Actually other than the fact they almost all tended to annoy him to one degree or another, the only ascended being he ever really felt tempted to physically attack was that fat guy that came to the diner sometimes. He had no idea who he was but for some reason Daniel always had a gut-feeling he should be repeatedly driving his fist into the man's face because he really deserved it. 'We can't save the girl?' he asked sadly.

'She's not truly in there anymore anyway' Ganos Lal told him. 'So much of what we are is our memores and experiences and the virus has already robbed her of those' she said. 'In a way she died five million years ago and we're only seeing her shadow.'

'She's in pain, we can help her slip away with more dignity' Daniel suggested. 'We can do that surely?' he asked. 'Well can't we?' he yelled.

'I won't stop you, if the others do you'll know your answer' the other ascended being told him. 'Be warned though, you might be using up your good will.'

'So if I help out here it's more likely they'll stop me in the future?' Daniel asked.

'Of course' Ganos Lal replied, 'what you propose to do is a little thing, it took saving whole worlds for both Chaya and Orlin to face the sanctions they did, but the more you interfere the closer you'll be watched and the less freedom to act you'll be allowed in the future even if they let you act now.'

'So you're saying if I use up my credit now I might regret it later?' Daniel responded.

Ganos shrugged. 'It's a gamble on your part I'm afraid, Daniel Jackson' she told him. 'They might even let you help for a while then cut you off leaving one of your friends still stricken.'

'So how good is _your_ credit?' Daniel asked her.

'Getting progressively worse because of spending time with the likes of you' she replied evenly. 'If you're going to do it just do it, I'll stand here and look disapproving.'

'Going to put me in detention for this Miss Lal?' Daniel joked as he prepared to help Aiyana.

'Just write out "I must not interfere in the affairs of mortals" infinite times and put it on my desk before all the stars go out' Ganos Lal told him in such as way that he wasn't sure if she was being serious or not.

**Area 51 – Earth – July 2002**

Given that everyone else in the audience of fifty or so X-COM and SGC Officers and Scientists was clearly too polite to say it Jack O'Neill decided to step up to the plate himself. 'Invaders from Mars?' he queried. 'Isn't that a cliché?' he asked, rubbing his temples. He was still getting headaches like the others who caught the virus from the Ancient girl before she cured them all, expiring soon afterwards. He had been told that if she had failed, and the sarcophagus hadn't worked, the back-up plan was a Tok'ra symbiote and he was almost as glad he had avoided that prospect as he was death itself. Jonas was in a foul mood because X-COM had dissected the Ancients corpse which he thought was totally disrespectful, he had chosen to remain at the SGC along with Teal'c and Andianov rather than risk running into Nirrti who had been the one that carried the procedure out. The Goa'uld parasite inside it's human host as effective a defence against the virus as a Tok'ra symbiote would be and she was an expert in Hok'taur physiology so she was the logical choice for the job.

Doctor Svetlana Markov stood at the front of the hall giving the presentation wondered if he was being serious in his comment but decided she had better humour him just in case. 'They are not _from_ Mars Colonel, it is merely that that have established their main base in our Solar System on that world' she said.

'And we're certain of this?' one of the X-COM Science Team asked.

Markov nodded. 'We have been almost positive for some time' she replied, 'The Sectoid Commander captured from their Base in South America confirmed our suspicions to a large degree, but increasing numbers of intercepts of their Hyperwave transmissions have confirmed what we thought' she told the group. 'Loki's ships attacking Earth are doing so from a large facility in the Cydonia Region.'

Whilst the news that the Sectoid forces were based on Mars had been greeted with interest the mood immediately shifted with that particular revelation. 'Cydonia?' someone repeated through laughter. 'I suppose you're going to say they're right under the Face of Mars' he said sarcastically.

'Yes' Markov replied flatly. 'The very feature that all the UFO nuts have pointed to ever since Viking 1 photographed the region in 1976' she said.

'That's an optical illusion' the man replied unabashed. 'Mars Global Surveyor proved that with the pictures it sent back last year' he noted.

'You mean the edited images released to the public?' Markov replied with a smirk. 'It was those pictures, by which I mean the real ones which matched the images from Viking 1 though in better resolution, that first made us think there actually was an Alien Installation there' she said. 'We simply had no idea of its scale or importance until more recently' she explained before moving on. 'Now the Cydonia Region is also known for other seemingly artificial structures photographed by space probes in the early nineteen-seventies, and the reason for those is also now known to us' she added.

'You mean the pyramids people say are in some of the pictures?' the now rather less certain Cydonia sceptic at the back recalled.

'Pyramids?' O'Neill exclaimed. 'You're not trying to tell me that the freaking _Goa'uld_ are there too?' he asked incredulously.

'No Colonel, our interrogation of the Sectoid Commander revealed that the famed Pyramids of Cydonia were constructed by Loki not the Goa'uld, although for the same reason the latter do on their own worlds' Markov responded. 'They are intended as landing platforms for Ha'tak ships in both cases' she said.

'Why?' someone asked in confusion. 'Why would Loki want to make it easy for Goa'uld ships to land?'

'Loki has only fighters and relatively small warships' Markov replied. 'We know he has deliberately avoided building Capital Ships for fear of attracting the attention of the Asgard, but if he was to need them to fight the Replicators, who are the enemy his forces are intended to combat after all, a ready supply of suitable vessels already exists in the Milky Way.'

'The little grey bastard was going to steal the damn things off the System Lords!' O'Neill realised.

'So it seems from our intelligence' Markov confirmed. 'Converting the hanger bays to carry his own fighters and adding additional elerium-based weaponry would be far quicker than building a six-hundred metre, multi-million tonne mothership from scratch' she said. 'We have done something very similar to the _Enterprise_ after all with far less scientific knowledge at our disposal.' she pointed out. 'Asgard modifications to the existing Goa'uld hyperdrives and shields would greatly enhance their fighting potential as we know the upgrades Anubis has made to his own ships have done.'

'If he had any you'd have to admire the cohones on the evil little shit' an X-COM Colonel commented. 'So when are we nuking the place to oblivion?' he asked.

'We're not' a new arrival responded before Markov could. 'Keep your seats' Commander Sharp told the military personnel who had started to get up. 'Sorry I'm late Doctor' he apologised to Markov before addressing the group. 'After agreement from the X-COM IOC and the Governments of the Contributing Nations the decision has already been taken not to reduce the Cydonia Base from orbit' he announced.

'Why not Sir?' The X-COM Colonel asked in confusion.

'Long term necessity' Sharp replied. 'Loki might be a pain in the ass but basically his attacks on Earths are pin-pricks designed to obtain samples of genetic material from our population and test his latest military hardware' the Commander said. 'He has no interest in full scale invasion, planetary conquest, or genocide, he's a thorn in our side not a threat to our very existence' he continued. 'The Goa'uld are the greatest danger we face and if we blew Cydonia to hell we could be throwing away our greatest advantage.'

'Elerium' Carter stated, jumping ahead.

'Correct Major, our greatest military advantage over the goa'uld at the moment is that elerium powered plasma-beam weapons mean our F-302 fighters, and the new Avenger Corvettes coming into production, hit far harder than any comparable Goa'uld platform' Sharp responded. 'In the longer term I'm told we'll eventually have elerium powered hyperdrives that unlike naquadah ones will be compact enough to fit on a fighter giving us _another_ huge tactical advantage' he continued. 'The bitch of it is that the only source of is captured from the Sectoids because we cannot make it ourselves.'

'X-COM isn't going to let Loki continue to kidnap and experiment on people just so we can steal his wonder-fuel are they?' O'Neill asked with rising anger, he had seen pictures of the results taken on captured craft.

'Of course not' Sharp replied with a snort of derision. 'We're going to build up our forces, go to Mars, land assault troops and take that fucking base away from them' he declared, 'seize their fighter and ship production lines and capture their entire elerium stockpile' he added. It's only a pity Loki isn't there too, he thought bitterly to himself, according to intel the base was run by a computer with a copy of his consciousness on it, not the real thing unfortunately.

A ripple of surprised reaction went across the room. 'You're kidding' O'Neill said eventually. 'I saw in the reports how many of them were at their base in South America, that Cydonia place must be even bigger, a _lot_ bigger' he said. 'It could be crawling with thousands of Sectoids, Ethereals and Mutons protected by hundreds of fighters and warships.'

Sharp shrugged. 'Well I didn't say I thought it would be easy' he said, not adding he _did_ think it was going to be fun.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The SGC was willing to loan their captured Ha'tak to the Tok'ra in episode 4:22 __Exodus__. X-COM would be far less accommodating and I doubt even the SGC would have given the Tok'ra a mothership outright even if they did have a spare!_

In the X-COM timeline the UFO Fighters weren't encountered until the Third Alien War in the 2060's. It didn't seem reasonable for even the R&D wizards of that organisation to be as able to easily back-engineer that technology at the dawn of the 21st Century when Earth was over half a century less advanced. Fortunately in the Stargate universe there are other worlds with a far greater understanding of the natural world than the Tau'ri.

_The second section is an ascended's-eye view of a largely unchanged episode 6:04 __Frozen__. I thought another little day in the life of Daniel Jackson might be nice as he goes about his existance. Ganos Lal, AKA __Morgan Le Fay__, was the ascended ancient who initially stopped Moros, AKA __Merlin__, dealing with the Ori back in the Dark Ages but who eventually decided the old guy was probably right. She says herself to Daniel in episode 10:03 __The Pegasus Project__ that "You speak from the heart, Doctor Jackson. That is what I remember most from your brief time among us" so they did know each other when Daniel was ascended. She designed, and was the holographic model for, the childrens educational computer program on Atlantis, having her be a teacher too was my idea but she did have that vibe I thought. __Ayiana__ was an Milky-Way native Ancient that stayed behind when Atlantis left Earth for the Pegasus Galaxy. Millions of years later she was dug up out of a block of ice by an SGC team investigating the place the Antarctic Stargate was found and to everyone's quite reasonable shock promptly recovered from thousands of millennia as an ancient-cicle. She succumbed later to the disease she was carrying, this being that which of course caused the others to do the standard Ancient response to any major problem and buggering-off to another galaxy (the Asgard were probably wondering when they'd end up in Ida and may have already printed up signs saying it was full, please try Andromeda instead)._

_Cydonia__ was the location of the alien main base in X:COM, having the "pyramids" there constructed by Loki to land Ha'tak ships on is my idea though! The alien base was commanded by an AI in the game. I made it a copy of Loki seeing as how copying a consciousness onto hardware in Stargate doesn't seem that rare an event._

_This fanfic runs on reviews... elerium is too expensive._


	31. Chapter 31

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Village square – Jebanna – July 2002**

It had long been said that beauty was a curse on Jebanna. Once part of Marduk's domain it was now exploited by Goa'uld from many worlds who went there to find new hosts from among the population, only choosing the most attractive as worthy to carry one of the gods. A culture barely beyond the bronze-age the people did not know much of galactic affairs, tales of great battles raging amongst the stars as the gods fought among themselves were heard of course, spread by the occasional traveller or merchant coming through the chappa'ai, but Jebanna was far from the fighting, untouched by the ravages of war. With a temperate climate and good soil it would have been idyllic if not for the ever-present fear of what might come through the ring of the gods next.

Other rumours had come of late, only whispered by some for fear the gods would overhear them spoken and strike down those that repeated such heresy, but over time more and more visitors had arrived with stories of the warriors of the First World. It was said the Tau'ri were mere humans but that they used powerful magic of their own to make war even against the greatest of the System Lords, others told that again and again the Tau'ri had faced great Jaffa Armies a thousand times their number but had triumphed over and over again, piling their fallen enemies in heaps that reached as high as one of the great stone pyramids so many slaves had died to build.

The latest visitor to arrive had come with goods to barter and new interesting stories to tell, always a good combination and one that had drawn many to the village closest to the chappa'ai when word spread of his arrival there. Leading a small horse-drawn cart laden with his wares and with a slave following behind he had already negotiated deals to exchange much of it for local merchandise and was now of a mood to regale the crowd with oft-repeated travellers tales. He told them of the worlds he had visited, periodically interjecting a sales pitch into the story aimed at interesting the audience in products he could import from there, but it was when he began to speak of the Tau'ri that a hush fell across the village and everyone began to listen with rapt attention.

A simple people the villagers of Jebanna would not have known what propaganda was, nor less understood the complex psychological warfare campaign that was being waged throughout the galaxy, all they knew was that the trader was saying what they wanted to hear as his tongue was seemingly becoming more loose with the wine he was being offered. 'It's true' he said, 'they carry weapons that cut down Jaffa like wheat before the scythe' he declared, 'and wear gleaming armour that a bolt of lightning from a Staff cannot pierce' he told them.

'You talked of their warlord' a villager spoke up expectantly.

Starting to enjoy himself, probably helped by the wine, Harry Maybourne still working his trader disguise decided to lay it on thick. 'Sharp of Canada is the leader of the Tau'ri warriors' he said, taking another gulp from the clay cup, it was better than the mead he had gotten drunk on the world before last and hopefully wouldn't leave him with such a bad hangover either. 'They say his homeland is a frozen wasteland where the icy wind would cut you to the bone and where water only ever falls as snow, like it does here upon the mountaintops yonder' he told them, pointing to the peaks in the distance. 'It is said the forests there are full of ferocious beasts with huge teeth and claws called bears, and that you must prove yourself worthy by defeating one with a traditional weapon of his tribe they call a hockey stick' he continued, desperately trying to keep a straight face, deadpan delivery was everything.

'You have met him?' a woman asked with obvious scepticism. This wouldn't be the first inebriated trader that tried to ingratiate himself with potential customers by making up unlikely stories.

'No in my travels I've only met those who have met warriors in his service' Maybourne responded, shaking his head. 'Others say that he enslaved the System Lord Nirrti and that she now serves as his hand-maiden, forced to live on scraps from his table' he declared. Well it wasn't like the locals would understand she had been forced to do genetic research to earn her keep and fend off the threat of being extracted from her host by the Tok'ra he decided. Sharp had tortured the Goa'uld bitch into a more compliant state of mind after all, he thought, justifying to himself the not inconsiderable spin on the truth he was telling.

'A god serving a man?' the same woman queried doubtfully.

'Perhaps if they can be made to do so they are not truly gods' Maybourne suggested. 'Haven't you heard of the Free Jaffa that rebelled against the Goa'uld?' he asked rhetorically. 'They can't think their masters were divine if they'd do that and they've got to know more about them than we do right?' he suggested logically, further spreading the corrupting message he and others had been cascading throughout the galaxy. If you could sow the seeds of doubt on enough worlds the feudal society the System Lords relied upon would start to crumble, Goa'uld dominance was based on superstition backed by fear of the increasingly depleted Jaffa Armies, shake its foundations a little and you would be a step closer to bringing the whole damn edifice crashing down around their ears.

'That is blasphemy' a strident voice declared from the back. There were alas always a few that actually bought into the idea the goa'uld were gods whose will and actions were not for the likes of mortals to question.

'Maybe, but unless the enemies of the gods are all struck down how can we know for certain they're truly divine and all-powerful?' Maybourne countered. 'I've been to worlds where the people lived in caves and didn't even have knives or fire' he said. 'I could have killed any of them easily with the crossbow I carry with me for protection from beasts but did having a weapon they couldn't understand or stand against make me a god?' he queried meaningfully, pausing to let that sink in with the crowd. 'Is anyone interested in pelts?' he asked changing the subject so he sounded less like a rabble-rouser and more like a trader. 'The coat I'm wearing is made of the finest available and you can get the very same yourself for the right price' he told them, showing it off. 'Warm in winter, stylish in summer, be the envy of others' he said.

'What about the boots?' someone called back.

'You Sir have a keen eye for quality merchandise' Maybourne replied in his best impression of a used car salesman. 'Buy in volume to sell on and I can even arrange a discount with my supplier' he offered. They were a damn nice pair of boots, he thought, hand-crafted by a Shavadai leather-worker on Simarka with a taste for the brandy Maybourne had picked up on Rolan. Once you had good contacts on enough worlds you could make a very good living going from planet to planet, the most difficult thing so far had been finding a trained horse which was willing to walk calmly into the event horizon of a stargate but Maybourne had found one of those too eventually, greatly increasing the quantity of stock he could haul with him.

'I want to hear more about the Tau'ri' a little girl protested.

'I'm trying to earn a living cutie' Maybourne replied, giving her a smile. 'Lovely girl, perhaps you'd like to get her a pretty necklace?' he asked the man he assumed was her father, taking one from his pocket, holding up the seashell on a thin coloured ribbon which he dangled in front of her.

'The story would make her happy too and it wouldn't cost me anything' the girl's father responded.

Maybourne laughed. 'Got me there' he admitted. 'Talk to me later and we'll haggle about the boots' he told the man interested in them before resuming his stories. 'Well I don't know if this is true' he began again, 'I heard it from a Lucian and we all know they're not too trustworthy' he told the crowd, 'but they say that the infamous Tau'ri known as O'Neill was the one that killed the Supreme System Lord Ra and that the price on his head is now even greater than the one they had on Garshaw of Belote!'

Having heard it all before on other worlds they had visited Aikaterina continued to load the fine cloth and other goods Maybourne had bartered for earlier onto their cart. She was well aware that her master was really a Tau'ri Spy pretending to be a trader, using the disguise to travel freely, gathering information and spreading rumours but that was no reason not to do the tasks he set her as thoroughly and diligently as she would have for any other that had purchased her. He wouldn't beat her for doing a lacklustre job as others would have done but to her mind he was still her owner and that meant obedience even though he had tried to get her to think and act more independently of late with little result as yet, she was simply too conditioned by a lifetime of servitude.

'Is the slave for sale?' someone asked, as she worked.

'No it takes too long to train them up to go through that again any time soon' Maybourne replied. 'If they're too smart they run away so you have to get a dumb one and then it takes months for them to learn something easy like how you like your eggs cooked' he complained, rolling his eyes skyward for dramatic effect. He noted the pout on her face and made a mental note to apologise for calling her dumb later and explain he was only making up a reason why she wasn't available for trade.

Sometimes he wished he really was the utterly amoral bastard people thought he was. For one thing he wouldn't be bothered when she was upset, and more importantly he wouldn't have been held back by the thought that if he was going to start sleeping with her he would have to marry her too for the sake of his damn conscience.

'Can you get others?' a well-dressed villager asked. 'If we had a few good looking slaves to offer the gods instead of our sons and daughters we might be spared their loss' he suggested to the others.

'I don't deal in slaves, too much trouble' Maybourne replied. 'You need to hire guards for them, buy chains, beat them enough but not too much... it's just all too much work' he said apologetically. 'I could mention you're interested to the people I bought mine off' he offered, having no intention of doing so. Selling people to be turned into Goa'uld hosts was a step beyond his admittedly fuzzy moral guidelines would allow, he would lie, cheat and steal for his country, or himself for that matter, but there were still a few things Harry Maybourne wouldn't do. 'Feed and water the horse once you're done loading the cart' he ordered loudly. 'We're heading back for the chappa'ai before it gets dark and we'll camp there overnight ready to go through first thing tomorrow morning' he told Aikaterina.

'You are very brave to travel through the ring of the gods' a villager told him, few ever did so even if they knew the addresses of other worlds. Although only a few Goa'uld totally prohibited their slaves and vassals using the stargate network, trade being good for the economy after all, superstition about the monsters that lived on other worlds kept most peoples on the planet of their birth. Some even said it was travelling through the chappa'ai that made those that did so evil.

'Fortune favours the brave and profit is the motivation of every good merchant' Maybourne replied. 'My people are well known as traders in our part of the galaxy, I'm just the first to expand our network to here' he said. With many thousands of worlds to visit it was going to take a good long while for the various spies and infiltrators Earth had sent through the gate to visit each one although they had already scouted many of the most important goa'uld worlds sending valuable intelligence back home. Sometimes they also carried out sabotage operations, a member of British MI6 on secondment to X-COM had used an elerium-naquadah mini-nuke to blow up a trinium mine belonging to Apophis only days before.

'What world are you from?' the little girl who wanted to hear stories about the Tau'ri asked curiously.

Maybourne straightened up. 'Ferenginar' he replied proudly, once again trying to keep a straight face.

**Temple of Cronus – Malkshur – July 2002**

'Carter are you sure we're going the right way?' O'Neill yelled at her as they continued to fight their way through the sprawling temple grounds. It seemed like there was a damn Jaffa wearing the mark of either Apophis or Sokar behind every stone column and since the architecture was Ancient Greek in style there were columns aplenty.

'Yes Sir' Carter replied, firing her L2-A2 from the shoulder as she moved to the next available cover. This had been the homeworld of Jolinar, the Tok'ra symbiote she had carried for a brief time, and being here made the memories stronger than ever.

Yet another Jaffa appeared but before any of SG-1 could deal with him he was cut down by laser fire coming from the right as SG-2 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Ferretti moved around to try and flank the defenders. It was a large-scale mission with the mixed US Marines and X-COM Troopers of SG-3 and SG-5 screening and SG-10 to the rear holding the stargate secure, but O'Neill was starting to wish he had requested even more manpower.

'How many, Jonas?' O'Neill called back to the newest member of the team. Teal'c and Andianov were acting as fire-support whilst the Kelownan played with his toys.

'Motion Scanner can't track them all Colonel' Jonas replied, checking the device again. There were so many Jaffa around the device was starting to glitch out.

'Use the Force Luke' O'Neill told him.

'Sorry?' Jonas responded in confusion.

'O'Neill means use your Psionic Amplifier Jonas Quinn' Teal'c explained, moving to the next pillar himself attracting Staff-Weapon fire from up ahead. 'I will have to lend you my Star Wars DVD Box Set when we return to Earth' he added.

'Oh right' Jonas replied, returning his Motion Scanner to the pouch on his belt and replacing it in his hand with his Psi-Amp, switching it on and reaching out with his mind.

'So, how many?' O'Neill asked again before firing a short burst of mixed zat and laser fire from his rifle.

'I'm still counting' Jonas told him. 'Um... how many Jaffa does Apophis have anyway?' he asked, his mind reaching out through the device to touch the thoughts of more and more Jaffa and the prim'tah they carried.

'That is not encouraging to hear' Andianov commented, moving to join Teal'c.

'Indeed' Teal'c concurred wholeheartedly. They must have slain dozens already to get this far and the numbers shooting at them were not noticeably decreasing despite that. The garrison must number several hundred at least he decided.

Once a major stronghold of Cronus, one that the Tok'ra Jolinar had attempted to rise in revolt against him years before, Malkshur was now part of the empire of Apophis and was clearly deemed important enough to station an impressive number of Jaffa upon. Cronus himself was now barely more than a vassal of Lord Yu and in no position to try and re-take the world but with plenty of local knowledge available in Samantha Carter's head the top-brass back home had decided it was a good choice for another spot of Tau'ri-Patented military mayhem.

The sound of metal tracks grinding across stone floors preceded a storm of plasma bolts as a turreted Heavy Weapons Platform, the type nicknamed a "Mighty-Malp" mounting a rotary staff-weapon joined the fray, the small robot tank putting down a volume of support fire which a whole platoon would be hard-pushed to match. SG Teams might be outnumbered as a matter of course but it was policy to never be outgunned and on missions like this an HWP or two certainly helped even the odds. After firing several hundred shots in support of SG-1 it switched targets and began moving to support SG-2 still unleashing a continuous stream of plasma sweeping its turret back and forth.

Before the Jaffa could recover their wits O'Neill took a shock-grenade from his pack and pitched it underarm along the ground like he would a bowling ball, the polished stone floor allowing it to keep rolling on until its timer eventually ran out and it discharged its burst of energy, incapacitating every Jaffa within ten yards. 'Strike!' he yelled in triumph as a number of them fell unconscious from cover into view.

'I think you still need to pick up the spare Sir' Carter responded as a remaining Jaffa warrior started firing blind from behind a column with a zat'nik'tel.

'Damn it, there goes my average' O'Neil complained just before Andianov went sprinting past him, dodging the zat discharges and quickly closing the gap on the remaining Jaffa. Throwing herself to the floor she completed her charge sliding in on her knees a single shot striking the very surprised enemy soldier in the head as she swept past his position, his body hitting the floor before she stopped sliding, coming to a stop back in cover rifle shouldered and ready.

'Clear' the Russian called out, putting an extra burst of zat'nik'tel energy into every fallen Jaffa in the vicinity just to make sure.

'Move up' O'Neill ordered, their objective was the main chamber where Carter believed relics of either Ancient or Furling origin were kept. They were probably not worth much but their main objective was only to beat up on the garrison anyway so any additional trinkets they could pick up on the way was merely a bonus. In a couple of days they were going to undertake a similar operation against one of Baal's worlds just to show they didn't play favourites, the Tau'ri were purveyors of equal-opportunity havoc these days.

'She's amazing' Jonas observed as he followed the others. Although he had only been involved in a handful of firefights alongside SG-1 so far he had already seen the Sergeant demonstrate an almost disturbing ability to kill people with great finesse on several occasions. Teal'c was a better tracker, and supremely dangerous in hand-to-hand combat, but with a gun in her hand Andianov was quite simply poetry in motion.

'She has her moments' Carter agreed.

'Not sure about her sanity' Jonas added more doubtfully.

'Again, she has her moments' Carter told him.

The sound of very large heavy boots hitting the floor with a metallic clang that echoed off all the stonework immediately had SG-1 diving to cover again. 'More Jaffa?' O'Neill queried with a grian, those guys were never particularly light on their feet.

Teal'c listened more intently. 'No' he said eventually, raising his rifle to point in the direction the sound was coming from. Moments later a bulky two and a half metre tall figure came pounding into view at a jogging pace. 'Lieutenant Hailey' he said as the young officer wearing her prototype powered armour arrived.

'Nice of you to make it Lieutenant' O'Neill told her, checking his watch for effect. 'Oversleep did we?' he asked sardonically.

'Sorry Sir, I got sidetracked between the gate and here by a few Jaffa' she explained via the helmet's external speaker, her voice rendered suitably scary to match her appearance. Without the suit on Jennifer Hailey was the smallest person in the SGC, even shorter than the diminutive Doctor Frasier, but wearing it she finally had the physical presence to match her often fiery temperament.

'You were supposed to deploy through with the rest of us' O'Neill asked reminded her. They had only been told she wasn't coming minutes before going through the gate.

'Problem with the naquadah reactor Colonel, thought I'd better swap it out and it went faster than I thought it would so General Hammond told me to follow on and join you' Hailey explained.

'What was wrong with the reactor?' Carter asked.

'I didn't like the power fluctuations and when you're wearing something that has a twenty-kiloton yield when it explodes I decided not to bring it into a firefight Major' Hailey replied. 'It was okay until five minutes to go so I didn't have time to ask for your advice' she said. Although smart as hell in her own right Hailey recognised that Major Carter was still likely the more knowledgeable of the two of them in that department and would have gone to her for assistance if the opportunity had been there. This was not to say that she appreciated being called "Mini-Me" by the Major as had happened a couple of times, trying to get out of her mentors shadow was still very much a goal of the SGC's other excessively smart USAF physicist.

'Okay, that scores high enough on my acceptable-excuse-o-meter to get you off this time Lieutenant but don't make a habit of it' O'Neill told her. 'So what happened to the Jaffa you ran into?'

'I basically ran over them Sir' Hailey replied. The inch-thick laminate armour that covered the suit would probably absorb a hit from a Staff-Cannon, Jaffa personal weapons weren't exactly up to the task of stopping something like that. 'One tried to go hand to hand but that didn't go too well for him either' she said.

'Do tell on the way' O'Neill replied, 'Sergeant you're on point' he ordered as SG-1 started moving again.

'He clubbed me with his Staff a few times then I punched him' Hailey explained. 'He must have gone fifteen feet and I think I caved in his skull' she added, removing one hand from the L3-A1 Heavy Laser Rifle she carried to show the blood on it. Despite increased firepower over the standard issue L2-A2 the heavier version had never proven very popular in X-COM use, it was too bulky to be handled effectively, lacked full-auto capability because it overheated when rapid-fired and it weighed too much for the infantryman's preference. With Powered-Armour on to take up the load however it became a much more effective weapon, especially when you ran it straight from the suits own reactor and could remove the Heavy Laser's own hefty power-pack making it slightly less unwieldy as well. She would have still preferred the lighter, harder-hitting and more ergonomic P3-A1 Heavy Plasma by choice but precious elerium was utterly wasted on Jaffa so only troops fighting Loki's forces used those.

'I believe stealth is no longer an option' Teal'c observed as the sound of Hailey's armoured boots told any remaining Jaffa in the area exactly where they were.

'Subtle has its place but brute force and overkill has its appeal too' O'Neill replied. 'Jonas, do you know how many are up ahead now?' he checked.

'I think they're starting to pull back from the temple complex' Jonas replied, employing his Psi-Amp once again. He closed his eyes and concentrated picking up the surface thoughts of the nearest enemy. 'SG-2 nearly had them flanked, they don't want to get cut-off and surrounded' he said.

'Way to go Ferretti!' O'Neill enthused. As one of the men who had been on the original Abydos mission the Colonel knew he could always depend on the commanding officer of SG-2 to get the job done.

'There are a few die-hard hold-outs still guarding the stuff we're after' Jonas told him. 'They're strong-willed, with the interference from the goa'uld mind too I don't think I can take control of any of them' he said apologetically. That had been an interesting discovery, it was already known that the prim'ta could communicate at a low-level with the Jaffa carrying it but that this could interfere with a psionic attack had only come to light when it was determined Jaffa were considerably more resistant than regular humans than they should be according to their genetic makeup.

'Can you shake them up a little?' Hailey asked.

'I'd have more luck trying to scare them' Jonas replied, you could use a Psionic Amplifier to induce a feeling of dread in a subject and it was generally easier to do that than take over their mind 'I don't think they'll run away though' he said.

'Had an idea Lieutenant?' O'Neill asked.

'If they're already shaky then when the big scary metal monster with the big gun arrives they might be easier to deal with Sir' Hailey suggested.

'And at least if they're shooting at you it'll be easier for the rest of us' O'Neill replied. 'Good plan, we'll call it Operation Replaceable Second Lieutenant' he said. 'What?' he asked Carter who was looking at him funny, 'the Academy churns out loads of them every year' he pointed out. 'I'm not going to waste Teal'c or a perfectly good Sergeant on a job like that' he declared.

'He's only kidding' Carter told her protégé.

'Just don't get that armour too damaged and try not to get those valuable brains blown out' O'Neill told Hailey. 'Jonas you're on, Freddy Kruger us some Jaffa.'

'Freddy who?' Jonas asked.

'That's it, no more Weather Channel for you until we've sat you through more movies' O'Neill told him seriously. 'You come to our planet, take our jobs and you don't even bother learning about our culture' he complained as they went to deal with the remaining pocket of resistance and claim their souvenirs.

**United Nations Building – New York – August 2002**

Commander Russell Sharp was not a happy man. He was not happy about being ordered to report to New York in person, he was not happy about the uniform he was wearing, he wasn't too enthused about the company and he was especially on edge because he wasn't armed.

Looking across the table to the representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, here representing all the states participating in the X-COM program, Sharp wasn't entirely sure if he missed having his pistol by his side because of ingrained habit or it was an instinctual urge to shoot the politicians. So far they had already managed to annoy the crap out of him by asking idiot questions, they had mentioned reducing the planned increase in project funding which was frankly insane from his perspective, and if that slimy prick Kinsey smirked at him one more time he might snap, dive across the table and throttle the life out of him.

At least Elizabeth Weir sat to his left was currently dealing with most of the truly inane queries regarding the state of diplomatic relations with Earth's allies giving Sharp the opportunity to check his notes and play with his collar. Since X-COM didn't officially exist he couldn't go around wearing its dress uniform in public, even if it had one, so he was in the uniform of a Major-General of the Canadian Army, an approximately similar rank to a Senior X-COM Commander, topped off with a blue UN Beret in deference to his surroundings. When originally seconded from the Canadian Military to X-COM he had only been a Colonel so it was quite a promotion even if technically only one on paper.

Infinitely more comfortable in the surroundings Weir was very smooth, Sharp had to admit. The only person sat across from them who he would have spent any time with by choice was the Chinese representative Shen Xiaoyi and that was only because she was worth looking at, but Weir handled them very well once again demonstrating that X-COM only recruited the very best in each field. The problem for Sharp is that his ideal field was a battlefield not a conference room.

'So negotiations with the Orbanian government have been fruitful?' Jean LaPierre the French representative asked.

'Very much so' Weir replied with a smile.

'I'm surprised given that the commander of our supposedly top Stargate Team once completely fractured their entire society' Senator Kinsey commented, he was now firmly entrenched as the US member of the group.

Weir put on a more serious expression. 'Although Colonel O'Neill did inadvertently cause a seismic shift in their culture the Orbanians do not seem to bear him or Earth any ill-will because of that' she responded. 'In fact Kalan the Orbanian I negotiated with asked me to pass on a message to SG-1 saying that the former Urrone children are continuing to prosper although traditional schooling seems to have lost it's favour amongst many of them once the novelty wore off.'

'So when can we expect to see concrete results from your negotiations?' Russell Chapman the representative of the British Government queried.

'The Orbanians have already agreed to process our naquadah ore in return for keeping a reasonable percentage of the enriched reactor and weapons grade product' Weir told him. 'Final terms for purchasing naquadah reactors from them in bulk should be reached very soon.'

'I thought we could make our own reactors?' Kinsey asked.

'Our reactor design is basically a less advanced copy of the original Orbanian device' Sharp replied before Weir could 'Their reactors are more compact and produce more power than ours and they're so cheap we'd have to be nuts not to buy them given the asking price is only access to Goa'uld technology we've back-engineered' he said.

'We're using more and more naquadah and more and more reactors powered by it all the time' Weir added. 'Orban has a far greater existing industrial apparatus to produce both, outsourcing is frankly good economics and as a bonus trade deepens diplomatic ties with Orban' she continued. 'Although less advanced technologically than the Tollan or Aschen they are sufficiently industrialised to be well worth cultivating a stronger relationship with.'

'But we are retaining our ability to process ore and build reactors here on Earth too?' Shen Xiaoyi asked seriously. 'We should not become completely dependent on foreign manufacturing' she stated.

'Our existing production lines will be retained though operating at a reduced level of output' Weir confirmed. 'These can be bought back into full production if ever required' she reassured the Chinese delegate.

'Sounds acceptable to me' LaPierre responded. 'If I may move on to the next order of business we have been reviewing SGC files for some time and have noted several instances where non-terrestrial human civilians were relocated to other planets to protect them from Goa'uld predation' he said. 'In addition we are not entirely convinced that our Free Jaffa allies have been receiving sufficient humanitarian as opposed to military aid.'

'It's practically a tent city on Hanka now according to one report I read' Chapman observed. 'Damn sorry state of affairs' he remarked, shaking his head sadly.

'And the way the refugees from Nasya were practically dumped on Gemmond for lack of somewhere else to put them is regretful in the extreme, they are still a long way from integrating with the local culture' Kinsey interjected. 'When the Stargate Program is made public the press will certainly rip us to pieces for always putting military considerations first' he said.

'You're not thinking about going public are you?' Sharp asked aghast.

'Not for the foreseeable future Commander but it is inevitable in time' Chapman replied. 'We've got to make some provision for how we look in the history books and for that matter there is the humanitarian imperative as my French colleague pointed out' he continued. 'It's about time we presented a better face to the galaxy.'

'And perhaps win a few hearts and minds in the process' Kinsey said with a very unnerving smile.

Shen Xiaoyi smiled too. 'Given X-COM is a UN backed and affiliated organisation we have decided in concert with the other member countries that other UN organisations have a role to play' she said. 'As a start personnel from UNHCR will be affiliated to your command' she said.

Sharp blinked. 'This is a joke right?' he asked.

'No' Kinsey told him.

'I dealt with people from the UN High Commission for Refugees when I was on peacekeeping duties years ago' Sharp said. 'They're the biggest bunch of do-gooder peaceniks I've ever met in my life and I know _her_' he said for emphasis, indicating Weir.

'Coming from you I'll take any criticism as a complement' Weir responded quietly.

'How the hell am I supposed to conduct efficient military operations with a bunch of bleeding-heart relief-workers and doctors to look after?' Sharp asked incredulously then paused as another thought occurred. 'And where is the money for this coming from anyway?' he added suspiciously.

'Your existing budget should have enough capacity to fund the limited UNHCR Teams we envision' Chapman replied.

'Oh sure, we'll just blow up a few less Jaffa next week because we can't afford as many grenades' Sharp retorted sarcastically. 'Seriously this is a very bad idea and will negatively impact on my ability to fight the war effectively' he stated. 'It took me over a year to get the SGC to adopt a more pro-active approach and I don't need a major set-back like a bunch of UNHCR hippies coming in and screwing up my command' he declared.

'By "pro-active" he means unbelievably violent and destructive' Weir told them.

'Yes we know' Shen Xiaoyi responded. 'Commander this is not negotiable, you set off bombs you do not set policy' she told Sharp flatly.

'Policy is the intelligent faculty, war is only the instrument, not the reverse. The subordination of the military view to the political is therefore the only thing possible' Weir quoted, mentally thanking Colonel O'Neill for telling her that line from Clausewitz which Sharp clearly recognised judging by the glare he directed her way.

'X-COM has always been given huge leeway in determining its own strategic goals and tactical objectives' Sharp pointed out.

'In fighting Loki and his forces yes but the war with the Goa'uld is more complex politically' Kinsey replied. 'It's not just a matter of killing the enemy, their are other dimensions to consider such as diplomacy and our image overseas' he said, 'or rather offworld' he corrected himself.

Sharp muttered something obscene under his breath. 'Do I at least get to vet these people?' he asked.

'Perhaps Doctor Weir might be better suited to the task' Chapman replied. 'We'll provide her with a shortlist of qualified candidates.'

'Fine, great, go with that' Sharp replied glumly.

'You'll have to forgive Commander Sharp, he's usually more amiable but he hasn't shot at enough people recently' Weir quipped.

'We are all aware of the Commanders strengths and weaknesses Doctor Weir' the Chinese representative replied. 'As I believe is the Commander who, I hope will forgive me for telling you this, always gives you most glowing personnel evaluation reports saying that your talents in diplomacy and negotiation went a long way to make up for his own limitations in that area' she said. 'That helped us to decide to keep you on the Stargate Program long-term' she added.

This time it was Weir's turn to look incredulous. 'He did?' she asked in amazement.

Sharp leaned back in his chair. 'No good deed goes unpunished' he said.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Jebanna was the world the former host Kendra__ came from SG-1 met on Cimmeria__ in episode 1:10 Thor's Hammer__. Given the majority of the military resources of the System Lord's would be fighting on the front lines it seemed logical that their grip on their worlds would be shakier giving the Tau'ri an opportunity to move around more freely gathering information and spreading dissent. Hitting the odd high-value target of opportunity (like the trinium mines Apophis would need for his improved hyperdrive design) would be a bonus. Spies and saboteurs are a cheap way for Earth both to add to the generalised mayhem and disorder being caused by XSG Teams and become less reliant on the Tok'ra and Jaffa for intelligence._

_Malkshur was the planet Jolinar__ was from and where she failed to instigate an effective rebellion against Cronus__. Carter regained Jolinar's memories of Netu__ when there so I thought she would have even stronger memories of the former Tok'ra's memories of their homeworld. I thought it would be needlessly unfair on the System Lords (and unbalancing to the story) if X-COM Psi-Amps were fully effective against them so I'm going with the idea that having two minds in one body limits the effectiveness of psionic attacks. That a prim'ta__ had a mental link of sorts with the Jaffa carrying it too was shown in episode 4:04 Crossroads__. Goa'uld hosts are highly resistant to being hi-jacked by Psionics and Jaffa moderately so._

_In Stargate the International Oversight Agency__ (IOA) was long a thorn in the side of the SGC and I thought it would be even more of a pain to an X-COM run SGC given the UN element. Kinsey is using the new political tools he has to interfere from a different direction. The SGC did deal with a lot of refugees over the years (including the Nasyans__) and the temporary camps for Jaffa and others always had a third-world displaced refugee look about them to me. Bringing in UNHCR people that deal with that a lot on Earth does make a little sense on one level and would be an opportunity for good press if the program was ever made public. Earth originally got the naquadah reactor technology from Orban__ in episode 3:05 Learning Curve__. Carter just made a less-advanced copy with the available materials._


	32. Chapter 32

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Area 51 – Earth – August 2002**

Looking around the underground hanger for a moment Major John Sheppard then reached out and ran his hand over the smooth metal of the spacecraft smiling as he did so. They had finally come up with something that would not only consign the venerable and vulnerable Skyranger Transports to retirement but was also the first Earth-built hyperdrive starship. 'This is the alien alloy we got from the Sectoids right?' he asked, turning from the Avenger to one of the engineers doing final checks on the machine.

'We've started calling it "cydonium" now' the engineer confirmed, the badge on his jumpsuit said he was named Spellman and given the way they had once again seemingly worked magic in not only back-engineering sectoid technology but hybridising it with both Earth and Goa'uld tech Sheppard thought it appropriate.

'So can this thing really do Mach 8?' Sheppard asked him.

'Just over mach 8.1' Spellman replied. 'That's in the atmosphere, you can get up to a million miles an hour in space' he said.

'A million miles an hour?' Sheppard repeated, 'you're serious?' he asked disbelievingly.

Spellman smiled. 'Her sub-light drive is based on a Death Glider' he said. 'I worked on the first ones of those we captured' he continued, 'the old X-301 project that eventually led to the F-302 was my baby' he said proudly.

'There's not a lot of the 301 in the 302 Spellman' another engineer interrupted, 'don't oversell yourself' he said.

'Bite me Felger' Spellman responded. 'Your only contribution to this project recently is nearly blowing us all to hell by installing part of the Plasma Beam assembly backwards.'

Felger flushed with embarrassment, although highly qualified he did have a tendency to be a klutz sometimes and he knew it. 'Meyers and I are too busy fitting the Ring Transporter into the _Prometheus_ to do much work on this project and remember I _named_ this ship' he defended himself.

'You came up with calling it an Avenger?' Sheppard queried.

'He got the name from a comic book' Spellman said sarcastically.

'The Amazing Avenger?' Sheppard asked Felger.

Felger grinned 'Right' he confirmed. 'You a fan?' he asked.

'I prefer the Fantastic Four' Sheppard told him. 'So are you guys sure about the hyperdrive?' he asked nervously. Going fast in a conventional sense was his passion, the notion of going faster-than-light through sub-space was a different proposition.

'That's Murphy's department, he designed the hyperspace window generator for both the Avenger and _Prometheus_' Felger replied. 'It's basically just our version of the one fitted to a Tel'tak with a few upgrades to give it the roughly the same maximum speed as an Al'kesh' he explained. 'You're pushing thirty-thousand times the speed of light flat-out.'

Sheppard did a quick calculation in his head. 'So say twenty trillion miles an hour' he said, amused by the surprise evident in the faces of the two engineers.

'No need to push the hyperdrive anywhere near that hard when you take her up to test her' Spellman advised.

'I've been told to take a quick run around the block first time out' Sheppard told them. 'Head out to the mining base in the Oort Cloud then come back so you guys can go over the Flight Data Recorder, polish the windscreen and give the engine it's ten trillion mile service' he joked. 'The _Redemption_ will be playing chase-plane just in case.'

Felger smiled. 'We thought Cameron Mitchell would be the test pilot like he was for the Firestorm and the Grim Reaper' he told him.

'Too busy racking up kills I guess' Sheppard replied with a half-smile, it was in fact a hell of a complement to get this assignment he knew, it was certainly nice for someone other than a fighter-pilot to get the job for once as well. The guys flying Interceptors got the glory but Skyranger pilots like him had been risking their lives just as often as they flew into a hell of plasma rifle fire to drop the UFO Retrieval Teams directly into the action.

Taking a few steps back Sheppard looked the Avenger over once again. In some ways it resembled the much larger X-303 under construction nearby and like Earth's first home-built capital ship the Avenger was also a design compromise of sorts if not to the extreme of _Prometheus_ which was half battle-cruiser half aircraft carrier. The Avenger was multi-role but would be configured before the mission to act as either a tactical transport or a light warship. You could carry twenty-six soldiers wearing powered-armour and with all their equipment in the hold or if you were planning to go up against enemy warships you could mount one of the new surprises X-COM had come up with to deal with uninvited guests.

They called it a "Ripper" which described its function very well. After a couple of years success using rotary staff-weapons X-COM had scaled up the idea mounting six of the heavy staff-cannons used by the Al'kesh in the same gatling-gun arrangement. It took up most of the bay of the Avenger when installed with the uppermost cannon clearing the roof as it spun, each one firing in turn once at the top of the cycle. Firing at machine-gun rates it would cut Tel'tak or Al'kesh sized craft to pieces in seconds and meant that a number of Avengers could likely represent a threat even to a Ha'tak given enough time to relentlessly wear down the shields with a never-ending stream of plasma bolts.

Sheppard had earlier visited the X-303 under construction and had seen the first two ripper's being mounted either side of her bow. _Prometheus_ also had another nasty surprise for the first Ha'tak that she ran into, mounted between the rippers was a pair of elerium-powered plasma beams taken from captured Sectoid Battleships. The idea was that the continual fire from the twin rotary staff-cannon would weaken the mothership shield at one point and then the beams might be strong enough to cut right through, lancing into the heart of the Hat'ak even though its shield was still up. It certainly had more style than typical goa'uld tactics which were to pound away like you were clubbing a guy to death rather than neatly stab him in the heart.

'You've flown an F-302 right?' Felger asked.

'Sure' Sheppard confirmed, X-COM made sure that all its pilots were capable of switching jobs if required, you never knew when you might run short of one or the other.

'Same flight helmet with the goa'uld head-up-display eyepiece and the sectoid neural-interlink built into it' Felger told him. 'All very intuitive but remember you can't throw her around like you can a 302' he reminded him.

Sheppard chuckled. 'No offence guys but I don't look at this thing and think dogfighter' he replied.

'Oh with the inertial dampeners you'd be surprised' Spellman told him. 'She's got better acceleration than a Firestorm and could out-turn an F-22' he continued, 'it's just that you wouldn't want to get into a fight with a Foo Fighter or a Spectre.'

'Deathgliders?' Sheppard asked.

Spellman shrugged. 'Probably not much in it manoeuvrability wise but you've got a shield and they don't so...'

'I get to a make a lot more mistakes than they do' Sheppard interrupted.

'Right' Spellman confirmed. 'One hit from your guns and they're dead.'

'And lasers or plasma beams are hard to dodge' Sheppard said with satisfaction. All he had to do was get a goa'uld fighter in his sights and it was game over for the Jaffa in the cockpit. 'It's a marvel guys you should be proud' he told the engineers.

'Thanks for saying so' Spellman replied with a smile, it was nice to be appreciated. 'She won't let you down Major.'

'Just as long as she gets me back down after I fly her into space' Sheppard responded. 'And not too fast at the landing' he added with a grin.

'If you have to crash do it on the moon at full speed' Felger advised. 'You'd leave a crater large enough to be named after you.'

'I'll try and remember that' Sheppard replied. 'So she'll definitely be ready for this afternoon?' he checked.

'Oh yeah' Felger told him. 'We're just double-checking everything' he told him.

'Then I'll go grab a coffee and see you later' Sheppard told the engineers, heading towards the canteen.

Spellman waited until he was out of earshot then turned to Felger. 'We'd better bolt the pilot seat down' he said.

Felger shook his head. 'We only just got time to get it in there before fly-boy walked in' he said with a sigh of relief. He was going to have to buy the security guy that phoned in the heads-up a few rounds at the bar.

'This is your fault for telling Doctor Markov we could be finished by today' Spellman told him.

'I didn't want to sound bad in front of that Tok'ra chick that came with her to check the hyperdrive' Felger replied awkwardly.

'The only reason she noticed you was your cologne making her sneeze' Spellman told him.

Felger blinked. 'It wasn't _that_ bad was it?' he asked.

'Murphy wanted to ask supply if we could requisition Hazmat Suits' Spellman replied. 'If it makes you feel better you didn't stand a chance anyway' he told him. 'Smarter, better looking men than you have tried and failed to score with that one.'

'Maybe I should make a play for Samantha Carter instead?' Felger suggested.

Spellman looked at him incredulously. 'For Christ's sake when are you going to learn to set realistic goals?' he asked.

'Right after this project' Felger replied.

'Do you mean the Avenger or trying to get in Sam Carter's pants?' Spellman asked, rolling his eyes.

Felger thought about it. 'Okay, these projects, plural' he said eventually.

**Kelownan Defence Council Building – P2S-4C3 – September 2002**

Jonas did his best to ignore the occasional glares being directed his way by his countrymen, to them he was a traitor and deserter who had stolen state property to give to a foreign power, an alien foreign power no less, so it wasn't surprising he wasn't too welcome.

The radio signal from back home to the SGC had come as a surprise. The Kelownan government had signalled that they wanted to establish trade and diplomatic relations with Earth again and had sent delegates through to begin negotiations. They hadn't been going too well so far but they could have been a whole lot worse, if Commander Sharp hadn't had Cassandra Frasier perform surreptitious psionic scans of the visitors when they arrived they wouldn't have known Doctor Kieran the head of the Kelownan naquadria bomb project was suffering from schizophrenia, which turned out in fact to be caused by exposure to the material, and that could have played out very badly.

The negotiations had now moved to Kelowna with Elizabeth Weir drafted in as always to lead the delegation from Earth. Her opposite number across the table, Ambassador Dreylock gave off a similar diplomatic vibe while Colonel O'Neill faced the far more militaristic in outlook Commander Hale, recently promoted Chairman of the Kelownan Defence Council. Jonas recalled that the latter had merely been Undersecretary for Military Appropriations when he left his homeworld for the SGC only a few months before but guessed that his known hard-line attitudes had likely spurred a rapid rise given the current geopolitical and military circumstances.

Weir smiled. 'As I have already told you Ambassador' she began. 'Earth is not willing to provide advanced military technology to you given that we would then be morally responsible for what you would use, or perhaps misuse it for' she said.

O'Neill winced. 'Do you have to say it like that?' he asked. 'You make us sound like the damn Tollan' he complained.

'The difference Colonel' Weir responded, 'is that the unlike ourselves Kelowna wants military equipment to use against other _human_ nations not to defend itself from Goa'uld aggression.'

'Both our societies face foreign conquest and subjugation' Dreylock noted. 'We only want access to defensive technologies in order to fend off the combined might of our neighbours, Tirania and the Andari Federation' he said.

'An analysis I was involved in compiling last year did predict the destruction of most of our airforce within five weeks of such a joint attack' Jonas spoke up. 'Without air support our army would be unable to put up sufficient resistance to prevent invasion or occupation, the war might last six months before total collapse' he added, earning a surprised look from Hale for his apparent words of support to the Kelownan position.

'Your jet engine technology would give our interceptor pilots a fighting chance against the enemies superior numbers' Commander Hale told the Earth delegation.

'Unfortunately you could also put the same engines on bombers and bomb Andari and Tiranian cities with the other side unable to stop you' Major Carter pointed out. All three of the Great Powers on this planet were still using propeller driven aircraft, Kelownan jet bombers would be almost unstoppable and if push came to shove terror bombing of civilians might look an attractive means to force the opposition to negotiate an armistice.

'Your Surface-to-Air missiles then' Dreylock suggested, 'we could protect our own cities' he said.

'We give you defensive rocket or missile tech and before long you'll have offensive weaponry based on it' O'Neill responded. 'Sorry but it's what we'd do in the same circumstances' he said honestly.

'Do you people want our naquadria or not?' Hale asked angrily. Recent discoveries meant they had a considerable stockpile of the material. 'We know its power, we have already told you of our test of a naquadria bomb ourselves' he declared.

'And if we have to we will use similar devices against our enemies' Dreylock said more calmly. 'Do you want _that_ on your conscience?' he asked rhetorically.

Elizabeth Weir looked to Colonel O'Neill for his reaction before turning back to Dreylock. 'No but if you use Weapon's of Mass Destruction the deaths will be on your head not ours' she told him. 'Have you simply considered revealing the existence of the stargate to your neighbours?' she asked. 'If they know of the Goa'uld they might well decide that you need planetary cooperation not a World War.'

'We haven't even told our own people of the existence of the stargate and you propose we tell foreign governments?' Dreylock replied with a snort.

'It seemed to work out okay back on Earth' O'Neill told him. 'Only governments and the various militaries know about the stargate and they cooperate to keep it under wraps.'

'A secret alien threat to unite your world' Carter said.

'That's ridiculous' Hale retorted. 'If we all demobilised now we'd never be able to explain it.'

Weir shook her head. 'You _don't_ demobilise' she said, 'in fact you keep your economies and nations on a war footing using the foreign threat to justify high military spending.'

'Yeah' O'Neill agreed. 'On Earth the North Koreans and Iran stir up trouble every so often so it looks like we're divided as ever' he said. 'That freaked me out when Sharp told me about it but it makes sense, keeps the press and the public from wondering where all the money is going' he said. 'The Russians and Chinese are going to start sabre rattling if we have to increase the X-COM and SGC budgets much higher to fight the Goa'uld and Sectoids, you just hide the black project stuff amongst the rest.'

Dreylock looked shocked. 'You're serious?' he asked.

'It'll work trust us' O'Neill told him seriously.

'It's despicable' Dreylock opined.

Jonas sighed. 'It could stop a war, save millions of lives' he pointed out. 'Which alternative is the more despicable?' he asked rhetorically. 'You can lie to the people for a good cause or let them die for a bad one' he said.

'You've already tested a naquadria bomb, that gives the Andari Federation and Tirania an excuse to go ahead with similar projects' Carter suggested. 'Weapons like that _would_ be useful against the goa'uld' she said. 'They'd laugh at your piston-engined aircraft but nuclear weapons are something they'd be far more likely to take seriously.'

'And if we knew you weren't going to use our technology against each other we would be willing to supply you with other military equipment' Weir told them. 'Meaning all three powers of course' she added.

'We could accelerate your scientific development by decades' Carter told them. 'Give you a fighting chance' she said.

Jonas nodded, his world was at least sixty years behind Earth even if you didn't take into account all the alien technology they had now. 'Make no mistake the Goa'uld _are_ coming' he said. 'We're already too advanced for them to stomach they don't like human worlds with industrial age economies and militaries, especially since Earth showed them what well equipped and trained human armies can do' he said. 'The naquadria is a derivative of naquadah, which is the very basis of their technology. It's literally in their blood. They can smell it. If you continue using it, I guarantee you, eventually, they _will_ take notice and if this world, _our_ world, isn't united when they come we'll be killed or enslaved' he stated forcefully.

'Naquadria isn't much good for power generation, it's too unstable' Carter told the Kelownans, 'but we can trade you reactor-grade naquadah in return.'

'At a fair exchange rate of course' Jonas Quinn interrupted, Earth had the regular isotope coming out of their ears but naquadria was a very scarce commodity worth many times its weight in even weapons grade naquadah.

Dreylock had an expression on his face akin to a deer caught in the headlights. 'And you think this could work?' he asked nonplussed.

'We _know_ it works' Weir told him. 'I hope for full disclosure to the public in time but until then our various governments are doing exactly what we think you should' she said. 'You can unite your planet...' she said, 'with hardly anybody knowing about it' she added after a pause.

'But what if it _doesn't_ work?' Hale asked.

'You're already facing the option of either military defeat and subjugation or blasting millions of people with your naquadria bombs' Weir responded, 'surely it's worth _trying_ a third alternative to mass slaughter at least?' she asked.

'How could we even approach them with this information, the old hatreds run too deep' Dreylock said.

'The other two powers on your planet buried the hatchet to sign a non-aggression pact and come after _you_ didn't they?' O'Neill asked with amusement.

'As a temporary marriage of convenience, they'd be straight back at each others throats once we were defeated' Hale replied flatly.

'You're not going to be defeating the goa'uld any time soon' Weir told him. 'We can certainly help you explain the gravity of the threat they represent to all humanity on every world' she continued. 'Bring Ambassadors from the other nations through the stargate to Earth and we'll explain the galactic situation, perhaps introduce them to representatives from other human worlds like the Tollan or Orban.'

'Not everyone out there is an asshole' O'Neill noted. 'We've got a few friends, basically decent folks like yourselves' he said. 'And we know the Aschen too' he added with a frown, creepy bastards he thought.

'We could demonstrate goa'uld weaponry and ships to you and the other representatives, prove the scale of the threat' Weir told Hale, switching to talk of military matters for the soldier.

'We've certainly captured enough of it' O'Neill commented smugly.

'You could send soldiers too, we could take them to other worlds, show them the atrocities the goa'uld are capable of' Carter suggested.

'This is in the best interests of all three nations' Jonas said with all the sincerity he could muster. 'We shouldn't be fighting each other, we should be preparing to fight the common foe that slipped from memory when the goa'uld left a thousand years ago.'

'We will have to discuss this with First Minister Valis' Hale told Dreylock.

'Earth would be more than happy to host any negotiations on neutral soil and act as an independent mediator' Weir offered. 'It used to be my job to facilitate such meetings between hostile states, our planet is far more fractured than yours' she noted, 'our United Nations has nearly two hundred member states' she told him.

Dreylock raised his eyebrows. 'How do you ever get anything mutually decided?' he asked in astonishment.

O'Neill shrugged. 'So far just about the only think there's ever been unanimous agreement on is that none of us are keen on being enslaved or experimented on by aliens' he replied. 'Not too many dissenting voices on that one' he said.

'The nations of Earth are in the same boat as the nations of this planet' Weir stated. 'We hang together or we hang separately' she said. 'You're lucky that you haven't already been singled out for Goa'uld attention yet like we have' she continued, 'but maybe fate has given you the time you need to prepare for the day when enemies are in orbit over your cities not massing on your borders.'

'If you're smart enough to help yourselves we'll help you too' O'Neill added. 'Just sort out your local political problems first and you'll be taking the first step to becoming the next world invited to the grown ups table.'

Weir turned to O'Neill. 'I realise that the United Worlds isn't the official name yet, and the Charter is a long way from being thrashed out, but _please_ don't refer to our meetings with the other powers that way' she requested. 'We're hosting the next one at the SGC.'

'Maybe the Kelownans could sit in as observers?' Jonas suggested.

'Good idea' O'Neill agreed. 'We'd probably better show them a picture of an Asgard before they meet one though' he decided. 'Great little guys but they probably look a lot more like your idea of an alien than we do' he said.

'Short and grey with large black eyes abducting drunk farmers from remote areas of the countryside like the tabloids keep talking about?' Dreylock joked, earning laughter from Commander Hale before they realised all the Earthers and Jonas Quinn were staring at them.

'Loki' O'Neill growled. 'That rat bastard' he swore.

'How long has this been going on?' Jonas demanded to know.

'The stupid stories in the gutter press?' Dreylock asked, 'a couple of months' he answered confused.

Jonas blinked. 'This could be my fault' he realised, 'what if Loki somehow found out about my DNA?' he said. 'Cassandra is the last person from Hanka so without her people being available this world is his best bet to find Hok'taur genetic material.'

'He'd definitely want samples from here' Carter replied, 'lots of them.'

Elizabeth Weir collected her thoughts. 'I hate to break this to you' she said. 'But you could very well be under alien attack already' she told the Kelownans.

'You need to talk to the Andari Federation and the Tiranian Confederacy immediately' Jonas told Dreylock. 'Loki is no respecter of borders' he said.

'Given the lack of sophistication in radar technology here it's not surprising the locals can't detect his ships' Carter surmised. 'And they'd never be able to intercept them with propeller driven aircraft either, we had trouble doing it with supersonic jets.'

O'Neill leaned forward in his chair. 'We'll be sending through some people to advise you' he said. 'Jonas does Kelowna have Special Forces?' he asked.

'Yes' Jonas answered. 'So do the other nations, good ones' he said.

'You'll need the very best pilots and soldiers this entire planet has to offer' O'Neill told Hale. 'We'll help train your troops but this is your planet so it's your job to defend it' he said.

'You're serious?' Hale asked wide-eyed.

'Deadly serious Commander' O'Neill replied. 'This isn't the war you were expecting but you've got a war on your hands' he said.

'X-COM done with an early nineteen forties era industrial base' Carter said, shaking her head. 'Hell of a proposition even with our help' she opined.

'So am I the only one that just got a mental image of a Flying Saucer being bounced by a P-51 Mustang with Glenn Miller playing in the cockpit?' O'Neill asked looking to his team. 'Okay just me' he said after judging their expressions.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – September 2002**

'It's truly fascinating Commander' Doctor Bill Lee enthused as he followed Sharp around the base.

'Lights that make you high?' Sharp replied doubtfully.

'Well not so much that it's the fact that both the Goa'uld and Sectoids use such a similar recreational technology' Lee replied, wishing the X-COM officer had a slower pace. 'We've now confirmed that the equipment we found on P4X-347 works almost identically to the alien entertainment devices found on the largest Sectoid Craft' he said. 'It's sort of like a high-tech opium den' he explained.

'So is there a military application?' Sharp asked, turning into another corridor.

'Not really no' Lee replied.

'Interrogation potential?' Sharp queried. 'Like a truth drug?'

Lee thought about it. 'I suppose, but the effects are at least mildly hallucinogenic as well as addictive so the intelligence obtained would be doubtful, our standard psionic methods would be more reliable' he said.

'Addictive?' Sharp repeated. 'So we could maybe turn a Goa'uld or Sectoid into a junkie and threaten to cut off their supply if they don't cooperate?' he suggested.

'No it's extremely addictive to us but both those species are much better able to handle it' Lee told him.

Sharp stopped walking and turned to the scientist. 'So what good is this information to us?' he asked with some annoyance.

'Well...' Lee paused, 'as pure science it's fascinating' he said. 'Not everything we do should have a military application surely?' he asked then looked awkward. 'You're not the ideal person to come to with this are you?'

'Not even remotely' Sharp told him. 'Now I'm going to get stuck with a bunch of needles which makes me cranky so you might want to head back to your lab and don't bother me again today without the plans for some kind of superweapon' he advised.

Lee nodded. 'Superweapon, right' he said, backing away from Sharp's stern expression then rapidly heading off back where they had come from.

Sharp sighed then resumed his journey towards the infirmary.

'Sit on the bed and roll up your sleeve' Doctor Frasier told him when he got there. She was the only one present because sending her staff away made it easier to berate him without looking unprofessional in front of the other ranks. It was an oft-repeated event that occurred every time he was due to have the cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs he was taking topped-up.

'I hope those needles aren't as dull as they were last time' Sharp replied as he did as he was told. 'The one you stuck in my ass made it difficult to sit down the rest of the day' he complained.

Janet Frasier rolled her eyes. 'You big baby' she told him.

'I've been in less pain after being shot than I've been after you've given me a shot Doctor' Sharp told her exaggerating more than slightly.

If that's true it's only because you injected yourself with those moronically strong painkillers you X-COM people use' Frasier replied. 'It's a wonder you aren't all permanently stoned' she opined, filling a syringe.

'I think some of the stuff we take cancels out some of the other stuff we take' Sharp told her. 'Which is your cue to tell me I should be putting my body through this' he added.

'Would it make any difference if I did?' Frasier asked.

'Probably not' Sharp conceded. 'But I'd be very disappointed' he said, 'I like a little routine in my life.'

Doctor Frasier shook her head. 'Wake up, eat breakfast, intimidate the base personnel, go through the gate, kill a few people, eat lunch, kill a few more people, gate home, intimidate the base personnel again, eat dinner, go to bed' she responded. 'That _is_ your routine' she declared.

'It all sounds very boring when you put it that way' Sharp replied, 'maybe I should skip lunch?' he said.

'Don't worry you don't need to lose weight at least' Frasier told him. 'You're disgustingly healthy in some ways' he told him. 'You're just burning yourself out by taking this crap' she told him, sticking the needle in his arm, earning a minor ouch for her trouble.

'Like I said before I'm perfectly happy to inject myself' Sharp told her.

'I want to make sure it's done properly and none of you try taking more to make yourselves even stronger or faster' Frasier replied. 'Now turn around and drop your pants' she told him, switching to another syringe which she began to fill from a second bottle.

'A woman telling you to take your pants off shouldn't be so unwelcome' Sharp complained as he did so. One of the injections needed to be administered in a less dignified place than your arm for maximum long-term effect. This time instead of an ouch Janet Frasier earned a yipe that made her grin with satisfaction though she got rid of it before he turned around.

'Pills' Frasier told him, passing him a small container with a large number of different sized and coloured ones.

'Water?' Sharp asked.

'The jug and glass on the side there' Frasier told him, pointing.

'You normally hand the water to me' Sharp told her.

'I thought you wanted some variation in your routine Commander' Frasier replied.

'I like being waited on' Sharp replied, moving to pour himself a glass. 'So have you talked any of the other X-COM maniacs into abandoning their reliance of pharmaceuticals?' he asked.

'You know very well I haven't' Frasier replied curtly. 'And that several SG Team members from the US Military _not_ seconded to your organisation are still asking permission to take them as well' she added with annoyance.

'The results are to obvious to ignore I suppose' Sharp told her. 'Lean mean alien-fighting machines' he said, thumping his chest.

'Who are playing a dangerous game with their body chemistry' Janet Frasier stated.

'Back to the routine again' Sharp replied, starting to take the pills one by one. 'You try to look out for my personal best interests, I tell you I put the interests of others first and then you veer off on a tangent and accuse me of harbouring heinous plans to turn your daughter into Darth Cassandra.'

Janet Frasier made sure the door was closed. 'Permission to speak freely Sir?' she requested.

Sharp swallowed another pill with some water. 'Given.'

'Why are you such an asshole?' Frasier asked flatly.

'Could you be more specific?' Sharp replied, clearly amused at the question. As a rule only the Doctor here and Elizabeth Weir talked to him that way.

Frasier crossed her arms, pulling herself to her less than intimidating full height. 'I've watched you' she said. 'You lose people and it doesn't phase you at all' she said. 'You don't even care too much about yourself' she continued, 'you act like a posturing gung-ho jerk one minute and the next minute when you need to be cool and collected you're as professional as any military officer I've ever met' she told him. 'You're far from being stupid, and I don't think you're certifiable like some of your troopers clearly are, so why are you like the way you are?' she asked. 'I used to think it was the drugs but that's not it is it?'

Sharp finished the last of the pills. 'Do you really want to know?' he asked. 'It's taken you a while to ask' he noted.

'Yes I _really_ want to know' Frasier replied.

Sharp moved over to a wall and leaned back against it, he didn't want to sit down just yet. 'Okay here's a story to depress your little heart' he began. 'Back in 99 when I was new to X-COM, my third mission in fact, I was commanding a UFO Retrieval Team that caught an Abductor Class ship on the ground' he said, his eyes seeming to drift off into the distance unfocused as he remembered the day. 'Well we went in with twelve troopers and went home with five in the end but that wasn't too unusual back then' he continued, 'but the thing that makes this mission stand out was that we found a little girl on the aliens examination table' he said.

Janet blinked. 'Dead?' she asked quietly.

'No, dead children I'd seen before plenty doing UN Peacekeeping, this was different' Sharp replied, 'the thing was those abductors they have a device to paralyse the person laying on them so there she was, this little eight year old on the table after the sectoids had been cutting on her with laser scalpels to get a good look at her insides, and she's opened up like an autopsy but she's still alive somehow because of the machinery' he said. 'Now she's paralysed by the tech in the table but those things only stop you moving or speaking they don't stop the pain so she's in agony but she can't scream all she can do is cry' he continued. 'So there's three of us looking down at her, absolutely nothing we can do to actually save her life so our medic injects her with those painkillers we carry that you hate and after a few seconds they must have worked because we can tell she's looking at us.'

'Oh my God' Frasier said, putting her hand to her mouth.

'So we look at each other and I remember I'm in charge so I lean forward and smile at her, tell her my name is Russell and we're the army and we've come to rescue her and that it's all going to be better soon' Sharp resumed. 'And I wipe away her tears, then I tell her she needs to be very brave for a little while' he continued, 'I kiss her on the forehead, put my hand over her eyes, place the muzzle of my service pistol against the side of her head and then I make it all better.'

Frasier just looked at him. 'That's...'

'A horrible story I agree' Sharp interrupted. 'So we went back to base, I spent a week or so getting drunk and crying a lot but one day it just occurred to me that I was feeling sorry for myself more than her and that feeling sorry for her wouldn't help her much now anyway' he said. 'But I could do my very best to stop it happening to another little girl like her and then my life became very simple' he continued. 'I killed aliens, then I taught other soldiers the best way to kill aliens, and now I've got hundreds of soldiers under my command who I can send out to kill aliens for me, and I feel righteous about it every day' he told her. 'I will defend this planet and the human race to my last breath because it's the only way I can look myself in the mirror and if that means being an asshole then so be it' he added, his voice trailing off at the end.

'Why don't you tell people this?' Frasier asked him, still trying to come to terms with the story. 'If they understood...'

'I don't give a shit if they understand me, or like me, I only need them to do what they're told' Sharp interrupted her tersely. 'And I really don't want anyone to feel fucking sorry for me' he continued, 'most of the X-COM Old Guard have stories like that' he said. 'You know Sergeant Andianov, she's got a story about a chryssalid and a pregnant woman that would make you sick' he continued, 'we just don't _talk_ about it' he told her. 'We use it as fuel instead' he explained. 'High octane blind hatred will keep you going when compassion runs out trust me and now if we're all finished I've got to gear up and lead some soldiers into battle because that's been the sum total of my reason to be since 1999, see you later Doctor' he finished, heading out the door.

It took a few minutes left alone in the infirmary for it to occur to Janet Fraser that if he didn't care what people thought of him, or that they liked or understood him, why had he told _her_?

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Mitchell has been getting all the fun so I thought it was high-time John Sheppard got a new toy. In XSGCOM he's a Skyranger pilot so having him move to the Avenger made sense anyway, it takes over from the VSTOL Troop Transport as the primary means of delivering infantry to battle with the added bonus it can shoot the UFO's down first itself too. __Jay Felger was featured in episodes 6:08 The Other Guys and 7:09 Avenger 2.0. He named the Avenger DHD computer virus after a character in a comic book so I thought why not have him be the one that named Earth's new Fighter/Transport the same thing? Spellman was seen in episode 5:17 Failsafe. He was one of the engineers that fixed the Tel'tak in that episode and it was mentioned he worked on the X-301 project. __Hope you like the "Ripper"_.

_Quite a change to episode 6:07 Shadow Play here. Several of the same characters such as Dreylock, Hale, Valis and Kieran are featured or mentioned of course but the conclusion doesn't quite end up in the same place. __Loki would of course love to get hold of Hok'taur DNA and Langara not only has a population of many millions (Jonas Quinn is unlikely to be unique) but unlike Earth it's not technologically advanced enough to interfere with his abductions. I hope you like the idea of Kelowna, Tirania and the Andari Federation getting together to form an X-COM clone, it seemed like a cool idea to me given they were politically similiar to Earth in some ways but circa about 1940 technologically._

_How many fics are planned to be so long that you can deliberately hold off on character development and back story for a hundred and eighty thousand words just for effect? :-p __The narcotic lights Bill Lee mentions were featured in episode 4:18 The Light. They reminded me of the Alien Entertainment from X-COM so I thought why not merge a little more canon?_

_Reviews are always appreciated_ :-)


	33. Chapter 33

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Stargate – P8X-987 – September 2002**

'I swear to God, if you don't all lower your weapons I am going to order my troops to zat each and every damn one of you and send you back to Earth for a week in an X-COM Alien Containment Cell' Commander Sharp vowed as the parallel lines of Tok'ra and Jaffa faced off against each other. 'And you _will_ have electrodes stuck up your ass' he added with a growl. A Tok'ra Officer Malek had struck the Jaffa Rak'nor after heated words and Rak'nor grabbing his arm and then everyone had reached for their weapon, it was a Mexican standoff that could become a vicious firefight any second.

'You are heavily outnumbered here Commander' Bra'tac pointed out, ignoring the threat he wrongly assumed was idle 'as are the Tok'ra' he noted. This was the de-facto capital world of the Free Jaffa with a population of thousands, although most were in the camp some distance from the few prefabricated buildings that had been put up near the gate. Conversely there were but a handful of Tok'ra and Tau'ri present, the latter including SG-1. The first few UNHCR relief workers to come through the gate were at the main camp with SG-12 trying to get the locals to accept their help.

'We are used to being outnumbered' Malek retorted aiming a Tau'ri supplied elerium-powered Plasma Pistol at Bra'tac. The dozen or so other Tok'ra with him were armed with either the same weapon, a zat'nik'tel or an X-COM L2-A2 Laser Rifle and on a one-to-one basis largely outgunned the Staff-Rifle equipped Jaffa opposite, the problem they had was purely numerical but it was more than enough.

'Does the name Custer mean anything to you' Colonel O'Neill asked him sarcastically, looking around at the increasing number of armed Jaffa heading their way from the tent city nearby. 'No I guess it wouldn't' he realised after a pause. 'Well get Jacob to explain it to you later assuming you're still alive' he told him. 'That ain't looking too likely' he added as a piece of friendly advice as more and more weapons were aimed at him.

'Teal'c lower your weapon' Sharp ordered the only Jaffa wearing Tau'ri military uniform. Teal'c was pointing his own L2-A2 at Malek, instinctively siding with his Jaffa brothers.

'I cannot' Teal'c replied.

'Sergeant Andianov count down from ten and if Teal'c has not lowered his weapon zat him' Sharp ordered, he was not one to accept insubordination from those under his command with good grace, especially given the current situation where he thought Teal'c should be setting a better example.

Andianov inwardly grimaced but her face revealed little of her conflicting thoughts on the matter as she aimed her own rifle at her team-mate. 'Ten, Nine, Eight...' she began slowly, Jonas looking on in dismay as Carter threw a look of appeal to O'Neill to intervene if necessary.

'That's enough of this bullshit' Jacob Carter declared, stepping between the lines facing the Tok'ra. 'We're on the same side fighting the Goa'uld' he said before Selmak took over. 'Jacob is right' the symbiote agreed, 'the System Lord's wish us to kill each other, why do them such a service?' the Tok'ra asked rhetorically.

Teal'c lowered his rifle much to Andianov's relief. 'Indeed' he concurred, the other Jaffa and the Tok'ra following suit with their weapons including a visibly reluctant Malek.

'Okay now that's progress' Sharp stated. 'Now we know _someone_ has been killing people' he said. 'We've already lost one Tok'ra and one Jaffa' he continued, 'but for all we know any faction here could have been compromised by the Goa'uld so we're _all_ equally suspect' he said.

'What do you propose Commander?' Bra'tac asked.

'Everyone gets screened and I mean _everyone_' Sharp replied. 'Jacob you Tok'ra have a zatarc detector with you?' he queried.

'We do' Jacob replied.

'We do not trust that Tok'ra device' a Jaffa spoke up. 'They are no better than the Goa'uld' he said with a sneer that nearly had the Tok'ra riled up enough again to start shooting.

'Fine, I don't trust any of you' Sharp retorted. 'Bra'tac your people have the Mind Probes we gave you? he said. 'Do you trust them to work?' he asked.

'We do' Bra'tac replied. The silver spheres had proven highly effective in discovering traitors, the Sectoid designed devices enabled you to scan the surface thoughts of the subject most effectively.

'Excellent so here's the deal' Sharp said. 'Everyone gets put through the zatarc detector by the Tok'ra, then the Jaffa scan them with the mind probe' he announced. 'Before that Jonas over there will use his Psionic Amplifier on everyone here' he said. 'That way we're _all_ happy' he said.

'Or at least equally miserable' O'Neill commented.

'The Tok'ra first' one of the other Jaffa insisted. 'We were fine here until they came through the chappa'ai, fleeing from attack like cowards' he said.

Malek took serious exception to that slur and scowled at the Jaffa. 'We came under assault from the forces of Anubis' he replied. 'If so many Jaffa did not follow the Goa'uld like sheep we would still be in our forward base on Risa' he declared. Forced to retreat they had been unable to dial into the gates of either the new Tok'ra homeworld, Earth or Tollana, presumably because they were all already in use, and so they had chosen the Jaffa base instead as a bolt hole.

'I guess Anubis decided that he didn't think the information you were feeding the System Lords about Apophis was worth it any more and decided to stamp you out?' O'Neill observed.

'Looks like it Jack' Jacob agreed. 'He's been cocky since he started adding Asgard Technology to his inventory, he'll soon have enough of an edge on Apophis to beat him down once and for all' he suggested. 'Then he'll probably move against the others, get himself re-established as the Supreme System Lord like he was before Ra ousted him.'

'Okay there's nothing to see here, all of you go back to what you were doing until you're told to report for screening' Sharp ordered. 'Selmak, Bra'tac please keep your people in line until we can sort this crap out' he requested. 'Colonel, watch the gate and don't let anyone through until we find the bad guy' he told O'Neill. 'And Teal'c don't make me make a habit of threatening to have you shot' he advised.

'You are not in charge here' Bra'tac told Sharp. 'This world belongs to the Free Jaffa.'

'This world belongs to Cassandra Frasier, she's just letting you borrow it, and I'm in charge anywhere I want to be' Sharp replied flatly. 'I'll go through the screening first just to show how magnanimous I can be but don't let my friendly gesture fool you, this potential cluster-fuck is not going to be allowed to happen even if I have to call in a full company in Powered Armour to keep order.'

'The Tok'ra do not accept that the Tau'ri have any authority over us' Malek responded indignantly. 'We are allies nothing more' he said.

'The Jaffa likewise are the friends of the Tau'ri not their vassals' Bra'tac declared. 'We did not throw off the yoke of Goa'uld oppression to fall under the sway of another' he stated forcefully.

Sharp looked from one to the other. 'When you assholes have the resources to back up your claims to be anything but a junior partner in the fight against the Goa'uld let me know' he said. 'Until then just remember your place' he told them. 'I see Tok'ra with plasma and laser weapons we gave them and Jaffa with staff-rifles we gave them' he continued. 'What I don't see is any damn gratitude.'

'_Gratitude_?' Malek exclaimed. 'We Tok'ra have been fighting the Goa'uld for millennia' he declared. 'What have we to be grateful for?' he asked dismissively.

'There have been Jaffa in opposition to the Goa'uld since the days of the first Jaffa Rebellion five thousand years ago when the Sodan rose against Ishkur' Bra'tac added angrily.

'The sheer _arrogance_ of these upstarts' Malek complained.

Bra'tac nodded. 'The Tau'ri arrive late to the battle and think themselves better than those who have fought it for generations' he agreed.

'Hey we weren't the idiots prepared to kill each other five minutes ago' Sharp told them. 'Carry on Colonel' he told O'Neill. 'After I'm given the all-clear I'd better hold the hands of those UNHCR weenies.'

Bra'tac looked to Teal'c. 'Sharp of Canada does not like these people offering unwanted charity?' he asked in confusion. The Free Jaffa had been very displeased at their uninvited arrival, it made them seem like beggars and honour to a Jaffa was all-important.

'No he did not wish them to be added to his command' Teal'c replied. 'He considers them a waste of resources, preferring to use all he has for battling the enemies of the Tau'ri.'

'I am not surprised that such a man would hold healers of the sick and feeders of the hungry in low esteem' Bra'tac muttered.

'Commander can I have a word?' O'Neill requested, himself and Sharp moving away from the others. 'You can't talk to the Jaffa like that Sir' he advised. 'Bra'tac might challenge you to a fight to the death if you piss him off any more' he said. 'And the Tok'ra aren't exactly known for humility.'

Sharp smiled. 'Colonel, I just managed to get two groups that were on the verge of shooting each other just now to the point where they agree wholeheartedly on something, that being that I'm an arrogant jerk but it's a start' he said. 'And as a bonus I'll bet the UNHCR people will be welcomed with open arms now they think I don't want them here' he added.

O'Neill's eyes widened. 'That was an act?' he asked.

'Method acting maybe, I've been practising the role my whole life' Sharp replied. 'And for the record the UNHCR people _are_ weenies' he opined. 'There's something going on here and we are going to stop it' he told O'Neill. 'I don't trust the OpSec of either the Jaffa or the Tok'ra, there's either a Goa'uld or a Goa'uld sympathiser around here who might know the gate address not only of this base but the Tok'ra Homeworld too' he continued. 'You shoot anyone trying to leave, that's an order.'

'Anyone?' O'Neill asked.

'Anyone' Sharp confirmed.

'Even you Sir?' O'Neill checked.

'Yes but don't expect one hole to stop me and try not to look so happy at the prospect' Sharp told him.

'I'll try' O'Neill agreed.

It was readily apparent why the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa, although ostensibly allied in joint cause against the Goa'uld, did not get along smoothly. The difference between a Goa'uld parasite and a Tok'ra symbiote were far more philosophical than biological so it was unsurprising that the hatred of the Free Jaffa for the first leaked over to the second. Conversely Tok'ra hosts tended to come from worlds kept enslaved by Jaffa armies and almost every Tok'ra who had ever fallen had done so to a Jaffa weapon, this tended to colour the view each had of the other. All in all the friction between them was not conducive to unity and it didn't take much to spark age-old negative feelings to the foreground. The death of a Tok'ra followed by the demise of the Jaffa many Tok'ra thought the most likely suspect given they had argued earlier was the trigger needed to bring the whole simmering mess to the boil and unfortunately it was left to the Tau'ri to act as a buffer between them. The victims had been killed with a regular knife thrust but then a follow-up wound was inflicted in each case so as to cause severe trauma to the brain, if not then they could have sent the corpse back to the SGC bought them back to life in a sarcophagus and ask who did it.

Jonas unclipped his psionic amplifier from his belt and such was his way he smiled at everyone. 'Don't worry I won't look too deep into your minds' he promised the Tok'ra and Jaffa. 'Just deep enough to know if you're lying when I ask you if you killed Ocker or Artok' he told them. 'It's not as likely to give a false reading as a zatarc detector.'

'You can see into people's minds with that device as I have heard?' Rak'nor asked.

Jonas nodded. 'I can sense brainwaves from anyone nearby' he said. 'If I concentrate on an individual I can read them' he explained. 'I'm a lot better at it than most' he noted. His people had drifted genetically from Earth stock over the last few thousand years, that was why Loki had now taken an interest in his homeworld and why Kelowna and her neighbours were now embroiled in a wave of secret negotiations in an effort to persuade him that their planet was not going to be a low-threat source of valuable genetic samples.

Jonas switched on his Psi-Amp. 'What the...' he began before an invisible force pulled his head back and an unseen blade sliced open his throat spraying blood in all directions. Released by his assailant he slumped to the floor trying desperately to hold his hand over the gaping wound as his life drained away.

As everyone else raised weapons again, delayed by the shock of the event, Andianov was already firing at where Jonas had been standing. 'Personal cloak' she yelled, almost everyone else joining in, firing laser, plasma and zat blasts in a wide arc though apparently hitting nothing.

'Son of a bitch' O'Neill swore as he ran to Jonas who clawed for him with the hand not across his throat, a look of terror in his eyes. 'Jonas, it's okay we'll bring you back' he promised as the diminishing spay of blood forcing it's way between fingers showered him. 'We'll bring you back' he repeated himself as the light seemed to fade from Jonas eyes.

'Motion Scanners' Sharp bellowed, reaching for his own. The enemy might be invisible but it was still mobile and that was enough to detect it. 'Cease fire we're hitting nothing' he ordered.

Teal'c ran to join O'Neill. 'He is gone' he told the Colonel, looking down at Jonas.

'Not for long, we'll put him in a sarcophagus after we waste this prick' O'Neill said through gritted teeth.

'Got him' Sharp called out, looking at his motion detector pointing with his rifle 'He's heading for the forest, weaving and making up ground fast' he said. 'Major Carter, dial Earth and tell them to send through a couple of crates of TER's a dozen motion scanners and two dozen sets of night-vision goggles in case we're still out there come sun-down' he told her.

'We can track this enemy without such devices' Bra'tac announced. 'Jaffa are well skilled in such pursuits.'

'I don't know about you but I don't want to lose anyone else' Jacob responded. 'We wait for the gear to arrive then we hunt it down like an animal.'

'That which strikes without honour deserves no better' Rak'nor agreed with a nod.

'Joint teams, one of my people with a motion scanner, one Tok'ra with a TER and half a dozen Jaffa as backup per team, agreed?' Sharp asked Jacob and Bra'tac.

Bra'tac considered the suggestion. 'Agreed' he said.

'SG-12 will have a couple of motion scanners with them already' O'Neill spoke up, 'we'll need to gather the people in the camp together for protection and get SG-12 to watch out for uninvited guests heading towards them.'

'Rak'nor go join the Tau'ri soldiers there and arm all our warriors to defend our women and children' Bra'tac ordered. 'Select only the very best trackers and send them back here to join the hunt.'

'Yes Master Bra'tac' Rak'nor replied, turning to run to the camp.

'This assassin clearly sought to divide us because the Goa'uld fear us coming together' Bra'tac reasoned. 'Why else bother with such subterfuge?'

'Divide and conquer' O'Neill agreed, behind him Teal'c was carefully picking up the body of Jonas Quinn, he was determined to have the knife of his assassin ready as a gift to him once he was back among the living.

'And we nearly fell for it' Malek responded. 'We are fools' he stated. 'It must have been an Ashrak dispatched by Anubis.'

'He does have plenty of high-tech at his disposal these days, I guess he caught up with the work Nirrti was doing in cloaking technology' Sharp reasoned, periodically checking his motion scanner in case the enemy had decided to loop back on himself. Andianov was doing likewise with hers as Carter dialled Earth.

'We will have to take extra precautions from now on' Bra'tac observed.

'The Tok'ra have a reserve stockpile of Transphase Eradication Rods which we can provide our Free Jaffa allies' Malek offered. 'I do not like being manipulated' he said ardently. 'The Goa'uld will pay for their mistake in trying to do so.'

Bra'tac looked in the direction of the forest. 'You can run coward, and you can hide' he said. 'But we will find you and you will pay' he vowed. 'The hunter is now the hunted.'

Something occurred to Sharp. 'Major while you're ordering the gear we need tell them to send through a flamethrower too' he told Carter. 'How do you feel about flushing the bastard out that way if we get the chance Colonel?' he asked O'Neill.

O'Neill looked at Jonas again, laying lifeless in Teal'c arms covered in blood. He was only new to the team but nobody killed a member of SG-1 and got off light, not whilst Colonel Jack O'Neill commanded them. 'Sir, sometimes I like the way you think' he said, with a look of vengeance and determination in his eyes.

**Western Kansas – Earth – September 2002**

A flash to his left witnessed another alien fighter exploding as Major John Sheppard piloted his Avenger right through the middle of the dogfight. 'Bugs must be out of their fucking minds to try and land _here_' he opined as he chased his target, a nice big Sectoid Battleship all full of elerium and aliens which was trying to flee from the fight under the cover of its fighter escort.

With Cheyenne Mountain only in the next state and the X-COM North American base only a few more minutes further away at the hypersonic velocities human craft could reach these days it was utter lunacy for the opposition to attempt a mission in the heart of the United States. The F-302 Reaper squadrons flying out of the two facilities were all over them practically as soon as they entered the atmosphere, and the full wing based at Area 51 could be vectored in insanely fast if required.

'After I knock this thing down I'm going to follow it all the way to the ground and land you right next to it Colonel' Sheppard told the commanding officer of the twenty X-COM Soldiers in the hold behind the cockpit. Half were wearing the new Powered Armour suits but the rest, including the Colonel himself were still in the lighter more conventional body armour the troopers had been using for a couple of years now. 'I'll be right on his ass so you should be deployed before any of them can get out of the ship' he told him.

'Just get us down in one piece Major and we'll do the rest' the Colonel replied, his accent a mixture of the Mexican you might expect from his appearance and a Texas drawl that said which side of the border he came from. Colonel Gomez Rodrigues, the man with the most alien kills in X-COM, a legend who had been on the very first UFO Retrieval Mission in January 1999 and was still going strong. He hadn't even been killed in action once yet, the man was clearly either blessed by the almighty above or had sold his soul to the man downstairs Sheppard thought to himself as Rodrigues began giving his troopers a final pep talk.

The eyepiece fitted to his flight helmet was based on Goa'uld technology although the text and numbers it displayed were now a great deal more comprehensible and it helpfully flashed up the message "Fire" once the Alien Saucer was targeted.

Sheppard fired his twin Plasma Beam Cannon and the ship told him he had hit his target, the bright green discharges of energised plasma slicing through the air at relativistic speeds and cutting into the enemy hull.

Unfortunately the opposition had a plasma weapon of their own and an even more powerful beam came straight back, impacting the Avenger's shields which became visible as they absorbed kilotons of energy directed at one small point. The ship shuddered with the impact and Sheppard grinned. 'Okay lets see how you like this' he said accelerating towards the saucer with his finger held down on the firing button his plasma cannon firing and recharging every six seconds as he jinked to avoid the return enemy fire. The Avenger was faster and more manoeuvrable than the Battleship and thanks to greater power generation it had a stronger shield than the F-302X making it a good choice to take up against the largest saucers.

'I thought this thing had inertial dampeners' a trooper in the back complained as they were thrown about, those not wearing power-armour trying to keep as much distance between them and the hulking suits as possible for fear of getting crushed.

'It does, this guy flies like a lunatic' another replied, holding onto a strap for dear life.

'We are encountering some turbulence, please fasten your seatbelts and return your trays to the upright position' Sheppard called out. Anyone that wouldn't want to do this for a living was insane he thought to himself happily as his plasma beams scored another hit.

Another beam struck the Avenger's shields, it would likely collapse with another hit though the ships cydonium armour was probably tough enough to take any spillover the Major knew. 'Got him!' he yelled in triumph as the Battleship finally succumbed to the punishment it was taking and began heading towards the ground. The troopers in the back whooped enthusiastically not just because of the shoot-down but because it meant their pilot would now hopefully stop jinking.

'I want that ramp down and the first troopers through the doors before the landing gear bounces back' Colonel Rodrigues ordered. 'If we're fast enough we'll be killing the things before they've recovered from the crash' he said confidently. The alien ship was going to be landing a darn sight harder than the Avenger even if Sheppard did have a reputation of coming into an LZ faster and lower than most X-COM pilots would countenance.

'I just wish we had enough Powered Armour for everyone Sir' a Captain observed, he himself wearing a set, his voice distorted by the microphone and speaker he was talking through.

'They're cranking it out as fast as they can Captain' Rodrigues replied. At least his men who would be going into the UFO first were wearing the things. The thick cydonium/trinium/ceramic laminate would stop even a Heavy Plasma Rifle bolt, albeit not likely two in the same place, and if the trooper was fast enough the alien would never get the second chance he needed. The new suits had drastically cut the injury and mortality rates of the troopers and finally meant that even facing Muton's X-COM had the toughest most resilient soldiers on the field.

This mission was only Sectoids though with maybe a couple of Cyberdisc Hovertanks in tow. Earth had been routinely listening in on, and decrypting, the enemies Hyperwave signals for some time now and knew the destination, mission and species of each UFO.

'LZ in ten seconds' Sheppard reported. 'It's a farm, watch out for civilians' he said.

'Zat the civies' Rodrigues ordered, it didn't cause any serious harm and got them out of the way. A peasant in Romania had once tried to stab him with a pitchfork and here in Kansas the farmer was probably armed with something a lot more dangerous than that.

'Ramp going down' the trooper by the rear doors reported.

'X-COM!' a relatively new trooper exclaimed enthusiastically.

The Avenger hit the ground, the springs and hydraulics landing gear absorbing some of the kinetic energy as it landed. As the Colonel had ordered the first two Troopers were already through the rear doors and moving fast before the ship settled.

'Thank you for flying Avenger Airways, I hope to see you all on my return flight' Sheppard called out to the troops as they deployed. It was a joke but wasn't entirely in jest, he had flown too many teams into action alive where he flew them back to base in a body-bag.

The hulking three-story tall saucer dominated the farm, it straddled two fields crushing the fence between them and was probably visible for miles thanks to the flat terrain. The fact it was partially on fire with smoke pouring out of several holes he had shot through it probably didn't help it remain inconspicuous either.

Sheppard reached behind his pilot seat and unclipped the L2-A2 Laser rifle that was fitted there. It wasn't his job to go into the UFO, he was a pilot not a pharmaceutically-enhanced Special Forces veteran, but if any alien happened to appear in view of the rear hatch he was going to blow it's head off. 'Good girl' he told the Avenger. It had come through all its testing with flying colours, the hyperdrive worked like a dream and now it was being used in anger, doing the job a Skyranger used to only better.

The sound of firing started, Sheppard could listen in to the troopers on the radio and they were all over the alien bastards from the sound of it, forcing their way inside and gunning down anything not human. A huge explosion inside probably meant either an elerium reactor going up or else a Cyberdisc getting tagged, Sheppard hoped it was the latter, elerium was valuable, but either way he hoped none of the troopers were caught in the blast. 'Come on guys, kill them all fast and the beer and pizza is on me' Sheppard said to himself.

True to form Gomez Rodrigues took out three aliens himself including their leader at the very end of the fighting and as helicopters and Skyrangers flew in to retrieve the spoils of war Sheppard realised that not a single Trooper was down, though a couple were wounded. He quickly got onto the radio to contact Interceptor Control and after talking to them he ran to the X-COM Soldiers milling about after the heat of battle, a grin plastered across his face. 'We didn't lose anyone' he announced. 'Not one pilot, not one trooper' he told them. 'It could be the first time' he told them. There had been missions where all those killed in action were bought back in a sarcophagus but not to have any KIA at all was unheard of. 'We scored half a dozen Foo-Fighters, three Spectres, this thing and its whole crew for no losses' John Sheppard told them.

'And the beer and pizza are on you for everyone' Colonel Rodrigues replied with a grin of his own. 'I'll make sure the fighter jocks based at Cheyenne know where to send the bill' he said. 'Just for the record, don't make promises like that out loud when your microphone is still switched on' he advised.

'No anchovies on mine' a Sergeant requested.

Sheppard sighed. 'Well it's _still_ a good day' he said grinning again.

**Medical Facility – Pangar – September 2002**

'Jonas for the last time stop touching your neck' O'Neill told him. 'You're not going to suddenly spring a leak again, there's not even a mark there' he said.

'I'm sorry, it's just difficult to accept' Jonas apologised, taking his hand away. It had not been a pleasant death and the subsequent resurrection, waking up alive again inside a box, was hard to adjust to.

'You'll get over it' O'Neill told him. 'And so will Egeria if her kids let us fix her' he added, looking to the Tok'ra Malek whilst pointing at the Tok'ra Queen. The bloated pregnant symbiote still residing in the fish-tank like container the Pangarans had been keeping her in.

'We do not use the sarcophagus' Malek replied. 'It is the use of that device which is responsible for much of the evil that resides in the Goa'uld soul' he declared.

'Aw, for crying out loud Malek, a few hours in the box is not going to turn her evil' he said.

Kelmaa the other Tok'ra present shook her head. 'My scans indicate severe cellular degeneration in our queen' she said. 'Even if she were still able to be saved it would takes many days in a sarcophagus to do so given her age and condition.'

'We wish to take her away to die with her people' Malek said.

Dollen the Pangaran Premier nodded his assent. 'We are sorry to have inadvertently mistreated your queen Egeria' he said. 'Our friends from Earth have already agreed to help us obtain a goa'uld queen from their original homeworld P3X-888 to replace her which will allow us to continued to produce tretonin until a synthetic version is developed with your help' he told Malek. 'I hope relations between our peoples will not be coloured by this tragedy?' he asked.

Malek shook his head. 'When we thought the queen you had found and experimented upon was simply a goa'uld we were unbothered by it' he said. 'You could not have known her identity, the Tok'ra High Council will not hold it against the people of Pangara and we will continue our work to develop the synthetic as before' he promised.

'Thank you' Dollen replied with a slight bow which Malek returned.

Carter looked at Egeria again. 'I think I have a radical solution' she spoke up.

'I knew that was coming' O'Neill said happily. 'Spill it Major' he told her.

'Well Sir, the problem for the Tok'ra is that Egeria is too far gone to save, except with a sarcophagus, but even if that worked it would probably warp her personality because of the length of time she would have to be in there' Carter began.

'Right' O'Neill replied. 'I am right aren't I?' he asked Malek who nodded. 'Go on Carter' he said.

'Well we don't need to leave her in the sarcophagus long enough to save her, only long enough to stabilise her' Carter told the group. 'Maybe only a couple of hours' she said.

'She is too old and weak to regenerate herself even if made slightly less frail' Kelmaa responded.

Carter smiled. 'Her mind is probably still okay, we just need to give her a new body' she said.

'How will a new host help?' Malek queried.

'Not a host, a new _symbiote_ body' Carter told him. 'We deal with the problem of aging the way the Asgard do' she said. 'Clone a brand new body from her own DNA and transfer her consciousness to it' she said triumphantly.

'Way to go Carter!' O'Neill declared, clapping his hands.

Kelmaa looked at her in astonishment. 'We do _what_?' she said.

'We've got one of the leading Asgard Geneticists living back on Earth, Heimdall should be able to figure it out' Carter reasoned. 'Egeria will be exactly the same only two thousand years younger' she said. 'The fact you rely on genetic memory anyway might even make it easier' she continued, 'from what Heimdall has told me Asgard clones are a blank slate until the mind is downloaded into them' she told the Tok'ra. 'The new body for your queen will already come genetically pre-programmed.'

'This is possible?' Dollen asked.

'We can rebuild her, we have the technology' O'Neill told him, earning a short laugh from Teal'c who liked his Sci-Fi.

'We know consciousness transfer with your race is possible' Carter told Kelmaa. 'When someone once made a copy of Teal'c it caused a problem because both his mind and the one of the prim'tah inside him were copied over and partially merged' she said. 'I don't see a reason why this can't work' she said. 'Loki made great strides in cloning and genetic engineering many different species and we've captured plenty of his work too which should help' she noted.

Kelmaa looked to Malek. 'This could be that which saves the Tok'ra race' she said. 'Our numbers drop every year but if Egeria was to return, healthy and able to birth new young...'

'We would no longer be a dying species' Malek finished for her. 'And our queen would be with us once again' he added, trying not to let the hope that filled him out for risk he might jinx it. 'I would wish to discuss this with the Asgard Heimdall to make sure this is feasible' he told Colonel O'Neill.

'I can take you back through the gate and then onto Area 51 right now' Carter offered. 'With your permission Sir?' she asked O'Neill.

'Granted and get into high gear, Her Majesty there isn't getting any younger' O'Neill replied. 'Yet' he added.

'If this works Egeria will require a host who already has knowledge of the Tok'ra today, I will volunteer to leave mine, hopefully I would be able to find another, if not the sacrifice for my queen is worth my life' Kelmaa said.

Dollen looked at the Tok'ra. 'I will see if any of my own people would be willing to volunteer' he said. 'I'm sure we can find someone that would' he said. Perhaps that do-gooding archaeologist Zenna Valk? He thought, turning to leave the aliens to their discussion.

Malek took a breath. 'I will have to contact the High council for approval and advice before we attempt to proceed but there is still another issue even if this works' he said.

'Yeah?' O'Neill queried.

'If the Tok'ra start producing young then you will need Jaffa' Teal'c stated looking at Malek before turning to O'Neill. 'Prior to the process of incubating Goa'uld symbiotes using Jaffa, the blending between Goa'uld and host had only a one in two chance of success. Jaffa were created for the very reason of improving the ability of the symbiotes to take human hosts' he explained.

'Correct' Malek said.

Teal'c looked thoughtful. 'I currently carry a goa'uld larvae within me' he said. 'It is evil and the spawn of evil' he said. 'I must carry it in order to survive but if an alternative existed I would happily wrench it from my body and tear it apart' he said. 'If I must carry another creature within me I would be happier if it were Tok'ra rather than Goa'uld and I believe many Free Jaffa would feel likewise' he said.

Malek frowned. 'Then both Tok'ra and Free Jaffa as peoples would become dependent upon each other as both races and as individuals' he said.

'Mutually dependent but free of the Goa'uld' Jonas observed. 'Teal'c the Tok'ra have a much better understanding of Goa'uld Technology than the Jaffa because the System Lords always kept you ignorant, pretending their science was magic right?' he asked.

'That is correct' Teal'c agreed.

'And the Tok'ra always had the technology but not the numbers to fight the Goa'uld properly because you had no queen and only took hosts that volunteered' Jonas said to Malek. 'So am I the only one that can see where you could be heading?' he asked rhetorically.

'Symbiosis as societies not merely within individuals' Malek responded.

Teal'c nodded. 'The Free Jaffa would not accept anything but equality in such an arrangement' he said flatly. 'Many would fear being cannon-fodder for the Tok'ra instead of the Goa'uld' he said.

'Given how outnumbered we would be the Tok'ra are not stupid enough to try, especially given that you have already risen against the Goa'uld who pretended to be gods to keep you in line' Malek told him. 'Oh and talking of being outnumbered Colonel, Selmak and Jacob explained the reference you made to Custer, very amusing' he told O'Neill.

'I have my moments' O'Neill replied. 'Jonas, you're touching your throat again' he said sharply.

Jonas pulled his hand away. 'I've got to ask' he said. 'Do I seem any different to you?' he asked.

'It takes more than one time in the sarcophagus to make you go all System Lord' O'Neill told him.

'No, I mean, does my voice sound different since my throat was cut?' Jonas asked. 'Deeper?'

'Well maybe a little' O'Neill told him.

Jonas breathed a sigh of relief. 'Phew, for a while there I thought there was something wrong with my hearing' he said with a smile.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Firstly we have the events of episode 6:09 Allegiance__ though happening on the Free Jaffa world Hanka__ instead of the SGC Alpha Site. The addition of X-COM Motion Scanners__ makes finding people using personal cloaks a lot easier and bringing in some TER's__ to help makes a lot of sense when hunting an invisible Ashrak__._

_Gomez Rodrigues is mentioned in the notebook that comes with the sequel to the first X-COM game. He was an X-COM officer in the First Alien War and is described as "THE Gomez Rodrigues - The one that all the films are about" so given the number of seriously bad-ass soldiers X-COM had he must have been truly exceptional!_

_Episode 6:10 Cure__ turns out rather differently. They really should have just told the Pangarans they could pick up a Goa'uld Queen on P3X-888__, it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. The Goa'uld homeworld must have had a few queens, the rivers were full of the things, and no damn Jaffa to worry about. Yes I saved Egeria__ Baal made cloned copies of himself in the show later on using Asgard tech so the Asgard themselves should have been able to copy her. Simply make a clone and copy over her mind... the little grey guys have been doing that stuff for thousands of years. With Egeria still around it changes the future Tok'ra/Free Jaffa dynamic quite a lot needless to say!_


	34. Chapter 34

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – October 2002**

'So I hear they've finally decided on a name for our second Ha'tak Sir?' O'Neill asked, having run into General Hammond in the corridor as they both headed to the gate room in their dress uniforms. 'Would have been quicker to hold a vote like last time' he opined.

'I don't think they wanted it to be called the Millennium Falcon Colonel' Hammond replied as they turned into another corridor.

'That's what I get for telling Jonas something, he just blurts it right out' O'Neill complained. 'So what's it going to be?' he asked.

'Weirdly they found that calling our first Pyramid Ship _Enterprise_ helped out with OpSec because if anyone outside the program overheard anything, or accidentally caught sight of a report mentioning the ship, they assumed the vessel being mentioned was the one that floats in water, not space.'

'All part of my plan Sir' O'Neill interrupted.

Hammond threw O'Neill a doubtful look. 'In any case based on that they've decided to name the second ship _Admiral Kuznetzov_ after the Russian Carrier' he said. 'The British wanted _Invincible_ but the French objected strenuously' he told O'Neill with a grin. 'Our old friend Colonel Chekov is getting command so they'll be a Russian at the helm too.'

O'Neill frowned. 'I thought he was going to be running the Omega Site for the foreseeable future?' he asked as they arrived at the gate room, a guard at the heavy blast door swiping his ID to open it for them.

'He was, but the Russian Federation was getting annoyed that not only was the first Ha'tak under US Command but we're about to bring _Prometheus_ into service giving the United States command of what they saw as a disproportionate number of Earth's Capital Ships' Hammond explained as the door slid aside. 'They also pointed out it was only going to get worse since funding for the second X-303 was approved by Congress last week, it'll begin construction at Area 51 just as soon as _Prometheus_ is finished.'

'I heard they're going to call it _Atlas_?' O'Neill remarked, following Hammond through. 'Jonas said it was because Atlas was the brother of Prometheus or something like that.'

'I'll take your word for it Colonel' Hammond replied. 'I thought it was because it's one of the ships that'll bear the weight of the world on its shoulders' he said as they joined the others already waiting there. As well as Carter, Jonas and Teal'c, the latter two in suits, the former in her own dress uniform, Elizabeth Weir was wearing a very expensive looking suit of her own.

O'Neill gave a nod of recognition to Major Warren of SG-3 who was stood with the rest of his unit and the other US Marines of SG-5. They might all be gung-ho loons with doubtful personal hygiene to his way of thinking but formed up into a short double-rank the jar-heads looked good in their Dress Blues he had to admit.

'They're due any minute' Weir said, checking her watch. 'Thanks for finding Commander Sharp something to blow up, these things always go smoother with him out of the picture' she whispered to General Hammond who had moved to stand beside her.

'Fortunately he didn't need much persuasion to go off on a mission instead of play the gracious host' Hammond whispered back. 'It was much harder to persuade Colonel O'Neill not to follow him' he noted.

Jonas wanted a cup of coffee, he was starting to suspect that Colonel O'Neill's jokes that he was addicted to caffeine weren't so funny after all after deciding to not have any that day to prove a point to himself that he wasn't dependent on the stuff. A nice hot cup of Java would really hit the spot right now he thought, imagining the smell as he wafted it under his nose. 'Earth to Jonas, come in Jonas' O'Neill said to him, waving a hand in front of his face.

'Sorry Colonel I was light-years away' Jonas apologised as his thoughts sharply shifted away from coffee and to his commanding officer.

'Well gate back here and join the rest of us' O'Neill told him. 'I asked you about that technical report I got you to read for me' he said.

Carter sighed. 'You promised to read it yourself Sir' she reminded him.

'I'm a busy man' O'Neill defended himself.

'Earlier I observed you spending an hour in the canteen working on a crossword O'Neill' Teal'c interjected.

O'Neill looked aggrieved. 'I was busy expanding my mind, enhancing my vocabulary...' he began.

'Busy trying not to lose that bet with Lieutenant-Colonel Ferretti as to which of you could finish it first' Carter said.

'That too' O'Neill admitted. 'And anyway Jonas is much better at understanding that stuff and converting it into a summary I can really get to grips with' he said. 'I'm a big-picture man, tactics and strategy' he continued, 'details are the other guys department' he said. Then seeing the expression on Carter's face, with one of her eyebrows raised he shrugged. 'Okay I needed some of it dumbed down a little, is that better?' he asked.

Teal'c thought about it for a second. 'I for one am satisfied by your explanation' he said magnanimously.

'Thank you Teal'c' O'Neill replied, wishing it didn't sound like the Jaffa was more believing of the notion he needed things dumbed-down than the veracity of his word. 'So it seems like our guests are running late' he said, checking his watch. 'Why not fill me in on the concise summary I hope you've prepared.'

Fortunately for Jonas he rarely needed notes to work from, although he would have remembered it all more quickly if he had some coffee in him. 'The prototype Earth-Built sarcophagus passed all its tests and they're going to start producing the first production models very soon, the first being earmarked for installation on Prometheus' he said.

'Does it still look like a big plain box with a hinged lid on it like the mock-up they showed us once at Area 51?' O'Neill asked.

'I'm afraid so' Jonas replied apologetically. They had included a photograph of the prototype with the report.

'Say what you like about Goa'uld bling but at least when you get into one of their sarcophagi you don't feel like you're in a tanning salon' O'Neill opined. Earth design, particular the military Earth design aesthetic was too functional by half sometimes.

'One day every hospital in the world will have them' Carter commented. 'Of course the price will have to come down first, they'll cost more than an F-22 does each until they can find a way to make it work without so many rare earth metals in the device and find something less expensive than using gemstones for the crystals' she said. 'There's more Luteium alone in a sarcophagus than a dozen of our shield generators.'

'Which is why the sarcophagus project was so delayed in implementation of course' Jonas noted. 'F-302 production always trumped everything else priority wise' he said. 'It's only since they found a richer vein of ore on P8X-362 that they've been able to consider allocating resources towards something else.'

'Talking of fighters that reminds me' O'Neill said. 'You've got to look over the design specs for the thing they're giving to the Kelownans' he said. 'I don't know if I'd fly it but the damn thing sounds like it'll really move' he said.

'You mean the rocket-interceptor?' Jonas asked. 'General Hammond let me take a look' he said. 'It's based on something the German's tried in your Second World War right?' he asked.

'Right, like a Messerschmitt 163 but with better engines and endurance' Carter told him. 'Think a Surface-To-Air Missile with a pilot instead of a guidance system' she explained. 'It's the best they thought your people's 1940's level infrastructure could manufacture themselves once we gave them a few pointers' she said. 'Rocket planes are your best option for supersonic flight at the moment, possibly even hypersonic in time.'

'I'm thinking X-15's with guns' O'Neill said. '_That_ would be a hell of a ride' he decided. The X-15 was basically a pilot riding a rocket dropped from a cradle slung under a B-52 bomber, it was 1950's technology, just within the reach of what Kelowna and her neighbouring countries could manage, but the USAF and NASA had gotten them up past Mach 7, fast enough to catch most of Loki's UFO's in the atmosphere as long as the chase didn't go on too long.

'It'll be naquada-enhanced nuclear tipped missiles, not guns they'll be packing Sir' Carter pointed out. 'We told them using their own naquadria devices would be a little hard on the pilots because they'd almost certainly not be able to escape the blast radius.'

'Missiles are okay but they're not as classy as a good old fashioned aircraft toting good old-fashioned machine-guns' O'Neill opined although he knew ordinary aircraft cannon would simply bounce off the hulls of Loki's cydonium-armoured ships.

'You could always give us lasers and naquada generators to power them' Jonas commented.

'Once the three nations on your planet have convinced us you're going to only use the things on Loki, not each other, we'll give you all sorts of gear Jonas' O'Neill replied. 'At the moment from what I hear the three governments are still arguing between themselves more than they are cooperating.'

'Old enmities die hard' Jonas said sadly.

O'Neill checked his watch again. 'Sir, if they're not going to turn up soon can we go get lunch?' he asked Hammond. 'I won't get ketchup on my uniform again even if it is hotdog day.'

General Hammond turned to O'Neill. 'They're only a few minutes late and this is an important reception' he said.

'They say punctuality is the politeness of King's but it's apparently not the politeness of Tok'ra Queens' Elizabeth Weir observed.

'She'll probably blame the host' O'Neill replied. 'The Tok'ra do that a lot' he said, then paused 'Of course the host _is_ female, so to be fair...'

'Treading on dangerous ground there Colonel' Weir told him with a stern expression that was tempered by the hint of a smile.

'Got the itinerary for our newly cloned and reconstituted Royal Guest all sorted out Doctor Weir?' O'Neill asked.

'Tour of the base then onto Area 51 to meet Heimdall and see some of our research projects' Weir replied. 'Heimdall did do most of the work involved in saving Egeria so I imagine the Queen will be happy to say thanks in person now she's blended into a new host.'

'Just as long as we get the credit for the idea even if the Asgard did the science stuff' O'Neill responded. 'The Tok'ra should owe us big for saving their asses from extinction' he opined.

Hammond nodded. 'Hopefully examination of Loki's creations will do the same for the Asgard themselves.'

'Again thanks to us' O'Neill pointed out. 'We're building up a lot of goodwill IOU's we can cash in at a later date' he said. 'At least I hope we cash them in, I'd hate to think we're only doing this all out of the goodness of our hearts.'

'No point building up capital if you don't spend it Colonel' Weir replied. 'If I can facilitate the planned negotiations between the Tok'ra and the Free Jaffa we might be on the verge of a major shift in galactic politics with Earth coming out looking very good.'

Hammond was about to agree when the stargate engaged and started to spin as the warning claxon began to sound.

'Incoming Wormhole' the familiar tones of Technical Segeant Walter Harriman's voice boomed from the loudspeakers. 'Closing the Iris' he continued, the trinium-titanium alloy sliding into place.

'Better be them' O'Neill declared.

'Tok'ra IDC received' Walter reported. 'Opening the iris' he added.

Something occurred to O'Neill. 'We're not expected to bow are we?' he asked hurriedly. 'I'm not up on the proper etiquette for greeting alien royalty' he said.

'Well I'm not planning to curtsy Colonel' Elizabeth Weir replied with some amusement as the re-born Tok'ra Queen stepped through the event horizon to receive a salute from the Marines and greet her peoples allies on their home world.

**Capital City Outskirts – Tollana – October 2002**

Ambassador Joseph Faxon looked up at the weapon emplacement that towered above him and was once again struck at how good the Tollan were at making their technology _look_ advanced as well as being advanced. From their smallest simplest devices up to their new warships Tollan designs often seemed to scream "Yes we're smarter than you" and this new creation was no exception.

An engineer with the Tollan Security Forces was explaining some of the more technical aspects of the design to dignitaries from the Curia but Faxon had lost track of the conversation as soon as the talk became too scientific for him to understand. Now he was just waiting to see if the hulking Heavy Ion Cannon they were stood beside reached its claimed specifications when they test-fired it at a target set up in orbit.

Standing at least twice as tall as the earlier model cannons, but almost identical in outward appearance otherwise, the new Tollan weapon was a major step forward in capability. Eschewing some of the finesse of its ancestor for brute force, it fired a bolt of energy at least an order of magnitude more powerful with the intention of simply smashing any shield that was advanced enough for the pulse not to simply go through. It also had a shield for good measure as a guarantee against sneak attacks attempting to decapitate the planetary defences.

'You are impressed I take it Ambassador?' Travell the head of the Tollan Curia asked Faxon.

'It certainly looks the part High Chancellor' Faxon replied. 'Earth will be grateful to receive these weapons once your own defences are complete' he told her. Currently the plan was for five of the Heavy Ion Cannon to ring the Capital itself with others to follow later once production was underway in earnest. A second outer ring made up of ten of the older standard cannon were already in place around the city as a defence against a massed attack by Deathgliders or Al'kesh which might overwhelm the defences by sheer number otherwise. 'Can I ask about your orbital defence program?' he asked. The Tollan had taken advice from military experts from Earth and were developing a layered defence network that was not reliant on one weapon type only, although primitive the humans of Earth did seem to have a gift for military tactics and strategy, or perhaps that was because they were primitive the Tollan often theorised.

'Construction is well in hand' Travell told him. 'The Goa'uld Ha'tak main gun design Earth gave us is extremely primitive by comparison to our own systems but it does lend itself to cheaper, less resource-intensive production' she said. 'We will have two dozen orbital weapon platforms equipped with both those weapons and goa'uld shields within a year' she announced.

'Will you be incorporating the Anubis type upgrades?' Faxon queried, the Tollan had been very interested in seeing the analysis made of the new goa'uld vessel now in Earth's hands.

'Naturally' Travell confirmed. 'We were largely unsurprised to discover that most of the improvements were simply based on using the basic technology closer to its maximum potential and better build quality rather than a whole new development in goa'uld science' she said with satisfaction.

Faxon nodded. It had long been known that much of goa'uld technology was simply copied from that left behind by the Ancients with its inferiority to the original devices it was based upon often down to the fact that the System Lord's didn't understand the theory behind it all near as well as they made out to. The Tok'ra had told them that the very first Ha'tak built had been the work of a famed goa'uld engineer named P'tah millennia ago and was, as expected, based upon his back-engineering of salvaged Ancient spacecraft but it was now beginning to become evident that he had screwed up the design considerably. Although the goa'uld could physically copy the devices they found readily enough as a rule, because they used inferior materials and worse engineering tolerances their copies never reached the outputs of the originals. They also had a tendency on occasion not to use or power the devices properly, one engineer having used the analogy of putting US style 110 volt 60 hertz mains electricity into a European 230 volt 50 hertz electrical device and expecting to get good results, it just wasn't going to work very well.

From what they could tell Anubis had somehow stumbled across the knowledge and understanding he needed to make a Ha'tak with weapons and shields that were nothing more than closer in performance to the original technologies they were copied from. According to the Asgard Hermiod who had examined them in detail they were still pretty clunky in fact but nevertheless they were superior enough over standard Ha'tak ships to give Anubis quite an edge over his opponents, and of course to have dealt a nasty surprise to Thor who although now recovered and downloaded into a new clone body back home was still seething about having a ship shot out from under him.

Having finished talking to a couple of the other Curia members the Tollan Engineer had overheard the conversation between Travell and Faxon and had wandered over to join them. 'May I join you High Chancellor?' he requested, offering her a slight bow.

'Of course Guardsman...' Travell replied, trying to remember his name.

'Travoc' the Engineer replied. '_Tesserarius_ Travoc' he explained, giving his rank and slightly annoyed that she didn't recognise that his insignia indicated he was an officer.

'Guard Commander' Faxon translated, like many diplomats he was good with languages. 'That's of Latin derivation, possibly Ancient too originally' he observed. 'Like the word Curia too of course' he added, smiling at Travell. It was a deliberate policy of the Embassy to remind the Tollan where they came from whenever possible, to try and increase the sense with which they might identify with their ancestral homeworld Earth and hence hopefully steer them towards a deeper alliance.

Travell smiled back. 'Our scholars have been pouring over the academic literature you have provided with great interest' she told the Ambassador. 'Our people look to the future but it's always worth knowing where you came from' she added before turning to Travoc. 'Did I hear something about our Security Forces considering adopting an emblem from Earth's history Tesserarius Travoc?' she asked him, getting his rank right this time.

'An insignia, a flying animal on a perch with outstretched wings that was used by some of our presumed ancestors' Travoc confirmed. 'It had an abbreviation underneath it in Earth script, are you familiar with it Ambassador?' he asked Faxon.

Faxon raised his eyebrows. 'It sounds like you're describing a Roman Eagle' he said. 'The letters underneath are S.P.Q.R. meaning Senatus Populusqus Romanus, or The Senate and the People of Rome, it was originally the insignia of the Roman Republic' he explained. 'If I recall correctly the Curia of the Roman Senate, was the building where they met' he said.

'Interesting' Travell remarked. 'Perhaps an abbreviation in our own alphabet of Curia and the People of Tollana would be very apt in that case' she pondered.

'My own nation uses an Eagle emblem and part of our government structure is called the Senate following the traditions set down by the Roman Republic' Faxon told them. 'In fact government buildings not only in my country but in many others too are deliberately modelled on the Greco-Roman architectural style' he noted. 'Lots of stone pillars and wide stone steps much like many of the buildings here on Tollana in fact' he said.

'Fascinating' Travell replied. 'Did you have something you wished to ask when you walked over Tessarius?' she asked the Security Force Officer politely.

Travoc nodded. 'Now most of my work on the Heavy Ion Cannon program is completed I'm on the short-list to be selected for temporary transfer to Earth to examine the Anubis Ha'tak in more detail' he said. 'I was hoping to ask the Ambassador about his peoples progress in upgrading their other captured goa'uld mothership to the same standard' he said.

'So far preliminary estimates are that it will take several more months to upgrade Enterprise even with Tok'ra practical assistance and Asgard technical knowledge' Faxon replied. 'We're just relieved it's not something that would take years and a complete refit' he added.

'I thought the Asgard were restricted in how they aided Earth by the Protected Planets Treaty?' Travoc queried.

'They are but having of their ships shot out from under Supreme Commander Thor by Anubis has made the Asgard rather more forthcoming' Faxon replied. 'If the System Lords complain they plan to argue that Anubis broke the treaty and that therefore any of _his_ technology is outside the remit of the agreement' he said. 'Apparently the Asgard have underhanded lawyers, who knew?' he joked.

'A lawyer is their word for a professional archon' Travell explained to Travoc who clearly hadn't gotten the joke judging by his reaction.

'Oh right I see' Travoc responded then grinned. 'Did you hear the one about the Unas who was going around eating dung?' he asked. 'Another Unas stopped him and asked why he was doing it and the first Unas replies that he just ate an archon and he's trying to get the taste out of his mouth' he said, laughing himself.

Faxon chuckled. 'I'm told the Aschen don't have lawyers or the equivalent at all' he said.

'They don't have jokes either' Travoc responded disparagingly, 'I went to one of their colony worlds to install a stargate for them' he said. 'If you'll forgive the presumption of a mid-ranking officer giving the High Chancellor advice we should _not_ give those people this Ion Cannon technology under any circumstances' he told the Head of the Curia.

'Yours is not a unique position' Travell replied evenly. The Tollan didn't like the Aschen, they were advanced enough to be near peers of a sort, technologically somewhere between Earth and Tollana in scientific development, but they were not well regarded otherwise. The Nox had also warned the Curia in no uncertain terms to beware of the Aschen Confederation in the future and if the Nox didn't like you that was saying something because as a rule the Nox liked _everybody_.

'Earth is providing the Aschen Confederation with the plans for Anubis upgraded shields and weapons for their fleet but we are still keeping back hyperdrive technology' Faxon noted. Like the Tollan the Aschen had indigenously developed FTL travel of their own but also like the Tollan it was relatively slow, taking months or years to get anywhere. Earth had given Tollana back-engineered goa'uld hyperdrives which propelled their new warships at decent speeds but the Aschen were best thought contained in their own little corner of the galaxy for now.

The device on Travoc's wrist beeped. 'The orbital target is about to enter line-of-sight' he announced loudly. 'Can everyone please stand clear of the Cannon' he requested, moving back away himself, Faxon and Travell following.

'Is the weapon operating fully autonomously?' Travell asked.

'Not yet but we plan to give its Targeting AI considerable leeway once it's in full service' Travoc replied. 'It is programmed to give a warning before engaging and can be overridden before firing if required' he noted. 'Here we go' he said as the turret suddenly span to face westwards its cannon raising into firing position. 'Defence network has issued a challenge to the target via radio and subspace frequencies' he reported, looking at the display on his wrist computer, 'target drone has ignored challenge... Heavy Ion Cannon is engaging' he declared.

Faxon could hear the weapon power up and for a second it seemed like the air around it was become charged with static electricity before it fired a colossal bolt of energy into the sky. It was already cycling the next shot before the first disappeared from view and the cannon fired once again when it was ready.

'One shot should smash any known Goa'uld shield' Travoc announced. 'The second will blow the unprotected craft to fragments' he declared.

High above an almighty flash signalled the demise of the target. 'If that was a Ha'tak pieces of it would be re-entering our atmosphere as shooting stars for years' Travoc noted with satisfaction, several Curia members starting to applaud.

'How would your Ghostrider's stand up to the cannon?' Faxon queried out of interest. 'I mean what if Anubis or another System Lord managed to develop Asgard type shielding?' he queried.

Travoc smiled at the Earth nickname for the cruisers. 'The Asgard supplied shields on our ships are considerably better than the ones the goa'uld have' he said, 'it would probably take three to four shots from a Heavy Ion Cannon to batter down the older Beliskner type shield and it's estimated the newer O'Neill Class could probably take twice that' he said. 'However with five Heavy Ion Cannon ringing the capital we could fire a barrage that would pulverise any known vessel' he said confidently.

'Excellent Tessarius' High Chancellor Travell praised him. 'Please pass my thanks and those of the Curia to the team that designed and built this mighty addition to the defences that protect our citizens from the predations of more barbaric societies' she said.

Faxon crossed his arms and looked at the Heavy Ion Cannon again wondering how to phrase his report back to Stargate Command. He smiled as he wondered if a signal reporting "The Big Honking Space Gun Mark II works as advertised" would be too unprofessional.

**Area 51 – Earth – November 2002**

Radek Zelenka surreptitiously crossed his fingers as the new and first commanding of the _Prometheus_ stepped onto the bridge. Everything had looked okay on the simulations, the naquada reactors were showing in the green and according to everyone that had looked at them, including Anise of the Tok'ra, the hyperdrives were as ready as they would ever be but this was still going to be the ships first flight and it would look very bad for him if the thing didn't get off the ground.

Colonel William Ronson took his chair and made himself comfortable. 'Amazing vessel you've built for us here Doctor Zelenka' he told the scientist.

'I was merely the chief X-COM Advisor to the project' Zelenka replied, 'the credit largely belongs elsewhere' he said. The X-303 was a USAF project with X-COM technical assistance not a primarily international one like the Avenger had been. 'I will of course pass on your thanks to the engineers and technicians who built her' he told the Colonel.

Ronson nodded and turned to his second in command in the chair to his right. 'Major Gant is the ship sealed and ready for flight?' he asked.

'Yes Sir' Gant reported, checking her console to confirm.

'Excellent, inform all hands we are preparing for lift-off and ask the people with the button that opens the roof to press it so we can get this bird out of this hole and into the sky where she belongs' Ronson told her.

Zelenka realised he hadn't checked the roof mechanism earlier like he planned too and hoped to hell someone had when to his relief the underground hanger opened smoothly exactly like it was supposed to. If it had been daylight it would have bathed them in the bright desert sunshine but for obvious security reasons they were taking off at night. _Prometheus_ was very large and would likely be easily spotted at a distance by the UFO nuts that often hung around the outside perimeter of the base.

'Take us up Major DeLouise' Ronson told the pilot and the two-hundred metre long ship began to rise gently from the hanger. It utilised goa'uld derived gravitational engines for lift and handled as well as any tel'tak as it rose into the sky.

'Well that works anyway' Zelenka said to himself in Czech before switching to English. 'The _Redemption_ will meet us in orbit yes?' he asked.

'It'll be our chase-plane for the hyperdrive test' Ronson confirmed. 'Make orbit please pilot, fifty percent maximum rate of climb best not push the engines too hard on her first time out' he said.

'We've got company Sir' Major Gant reported. 'Looks like an F-302' she announced as the fighter came up alongside, flying in formation as _Prometheus_ went into a steep forty-five degree climb, accelerating as it went.

'Must be an X-COM pilot, we weren't scheduled to have a USAF escort' Ronson noted. 'It'll peel off again once we're about to clear the atmosphere' he said.

_Prometheus_ made orbit with a minimum of fuss and Zelenka was feeling very good about himself so far. Although technically only an advisor as he said, he had in fact had input into the vast majority of the systems on the X-303 over the past few months and had helped solve several of the key problems that had inevitably arisen as Earth built it's first Capital Starship. 'How are the naquada reactors?' he asked one of the technicians.

'Power output is stable and running at twenty-five percent' the technician reported. 'We can ramp it up when ready' he added.

'It may be a good time to charge the shield generators and bring them on-line' Zelenka suggested to Ronson. 'The possibility always exists of encountering a Sectoid craft and they need to be tested in any case' he said.

'Raise shields' Colonel Ronson ordered.

'Shields up, buffer is fully charged' Gant reported.

'Naquada reactors now at forty-five percent of maximum output' the technician reported. 'Still in the green' he added.

'We are fortunate we did not have to rely upon naquadria as a power-source' Zelenka commented. 'Our first hyperdrive design was extremely inefficient and would have needed higher output than the one we have installed on this ship' he continued 'The ability to back-engineer several types of goa'uld ships provided us with a much better understanding of the technology' he said.

'Naquadria is only good for bombs' the technician monitoring the naquada reactors commented.

'I agree, the instability far outweighs the potentially greater power output' Zelenka responded. 'The Asgard Hermiod commented that he did not think even we were crazy enough to try and harness it for energy production after examining the material' he said. 'If you so much as look at it funny it starts an uncontrolled chain-reaction right in front of you' the scientist declared.

'Of course we do use better fuel than the goa'uld' Major Gant pointed out.

'Higher grade at least' Zelenka responded. 'One thing we do not have is a naquada shortage so we can be slightly profligate in how we use the most refined material' he noted. By using near weapons-grade naquada as fuel the reactors on _Prometheus_ put out considerably more wattage for their size than equivalent goa'uld power-plants tended to.

Gant checked her console. 'Redemption coming alongside' she reported, 'Captain Tanner is hailing' she announced.

_Prometheus_ followed the smaller _Redemption_ away from Earth, slowly running up her sub-light engines until eventually she out-ran the other ship, slowing down to let her catch up once Colonel Ronson was satisfied with the X-303's performance. _Redemption_ was built by a planet technologically inferior to the goa'uld in overall ship design so it wasn't surprising that a largely goa'uld-based vessel like _Prometheus_ had was faster, nevertheless the crew of the new ship were extremely pleased to leave the relatively diminutive vessel in the dust as it were.

The hyperdrive test didn't go as well unfortunately. The hyperspace window generator glitched out the first time they tried it and Zelenka and others had to quickly repair it whilst Captain Tanner made mildly sarcastic comments over the radio. To his regret Colonel Ronson had started it by earlier making an equally snide remark about the slowness of _Redemption_ to his opposite number on that ship and he had to admit Tanner was probably justified in his karmic retaliation in kind. Eventually they managed to open a stable hyperspace window and the X-303 made its first faster-than-light voyage with the smaller ship following behind just in case engine failure meant _Prometheus_ had to drop back into normal space in the middle of nowhere.

The first planned stop was out beyond Pluto amongst the so-called kuiper-belt objects. There the _Prometheus_ got to try out its weaponry, blasting chunks out of a ball of rock and ice called Quaoar which had only been discovered by astronomers a few months before. The twin rotary staff-cannon and elerium plasma beams in the ships bow did a masterful job of defacing a decent section sized section of the thirteen-hundred kilometre diameter planetoid until satisfied by the results achieved by his guns Colonel Ronson finished up the test by blowing a large crater in the surface with a naquada-enhanced nuke from his missile bays. After that it was time for the next journey even further out from Earth, and again with _Redemption_ following the Prometheus opened up a hyperspace window and headed for the facility mining the naquada asteroid on the very remotest outskirts of the solar system.

Arriving at the mining base in the Oort Cloud the new ship was greeted with applause by the teams working there and received a fly-by salute by a trio of F-302 fighters which were assigned to protect the small but growing installation. As part of his mission directives since he was out there Colonel Ronson was to take aboard several thousand tonnes of naquada ore for transport back to Earth and this was still being loaded when to the surprise of everyone a hyperwave transmission from Cheyenne Mountain recalled the X-303 immediately.

Apparently the Asgard wanted to borrow it but so far nobody back home was quite sure why in hell they would want to have a loan of a vessel that although the pinnacle of Earth science was still so inferior to their own? One thing Colonel Ronson was sure of however, Earth was going to want something pretty valuable in return, if not today then eventually.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Given that Earth has both a naquada surplus and is using cydonium as well as trinium for spacecraft production I thought it reasonable for a second X-303 to be built before the later 304's were bought into service. There was certainly more than enough time to construct another one between the middle of Season 6 when Prometheus arrived and Daedalus coming along at the very end of Season 8, and it's mentioned in episode 7:07 __Enemy Mine__ that Earth is after naquada because they can't build more ships without it. Rocket Interceptors such as the __Messerschmitt 163__ seemed a good choice for the 1940's vintage Kelownan airforce if it wanted to have a hope in hell of ever catching a UFO. You can get phenomenal performance from a rocket-plane, just not for very long. The original __X-1__ in 1947 was carried by a B-29, I can imagine the Kelownans making increasing fast armed versions until in the longer term something like an __X-15__ might catch a few of Loki's people extremely off-guard when they realise they're flat-out and it's still catching up on them!_

_I always liked the look of the original __Tollan Ion Cannon__ so I thought that it's descendent the Heavy Ion Cannon in the Fic might as well look the same just scaled up. In terms of firepower the HIC comes in below the main gun on a Ori Battlecruiser, it won't typically one-shot a Ha'tak like a toilet-ship could but it's still pretty nasty._ _Regarding the Tollan themselves they definitely seemed to have a Greco-Roman style to them and since they still used terms such as Curia, Archon etc I decided that they might just as easily use others such as with the Engineering Officers rank. Having the new more outward (and backward) looking Tollan military adopt a modified Roman Eagle as their insignia I just thought was a nice and entertaining touch (CPQT - Curia and the People of Tollana). Oh and I douby there are many societies who have lawyers and dont make jokes about them. __You'll be seeing more of Travoc on occasion by the way, someone will have to install the Heavy Ion Cannon on Atlantis after all._

_No episode 6:11 __Prometheus__ in this altered timeline. __Ronson__, __Gant__ and __DeLouise__ were the command staff of the X-303 when it was first bought into service on the show and here it's they that get to take it on its first flight as was presumably intended. I haven't given __Prometheus__ a naquadria powered hyperdrive because it just seemed likely they'd have a better design that wouldn't need that kind of power-output to make it work. I'm not the first to theorise that it was the inefficiency of the drive that meant it needed so much power to work, in fact in episode 6:11 the goa'uld does say that "The design is incredibly crude" when getting it working. __Blasting poor innocent Quaoar (discovered June 2002) for target practice just seemed funny._

_On another issue unrelated to XSGCOM readers of my Compelled BtVS/AtS series might be interested to know that I have revised and improved the first story Compelled to Play Again both here and at TtH (link to the latter on my profile). It's now several thousand words longer, and not quite as incoherently written. If you go back and read it you might want to consider a review as well, if it's well-received I'll give the second story the same treatment :-)_


	35. Chapter 35

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**USAF Starship **_**Prometheus**_** – Intergalactic Space – November 2002**

There were two teams that O'Neill always knew would be there to back SG-1 if he needed them, the first was SG-2 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Ferretti, the second was SG-3 currently under the command of Major Warren. Regarding the latter O'Neill was firmly convinced that the Marines just enjoyed getting into firefights more than was healthy but as for SG-2 it was Ferretti himself that made the difference, he was a good officer with just the right combination of brains and balls to get the job done which was not to say that you could expect unquestioning loyalty and sycophancy because that wasn't Ferretti's style.

'I think I speak for everyone here Colonel when I ask' Ferretti began slowly, 'are you yanking our chains?' he asked incredulously as everyone in the ships mess hall currently being used as a briefing room stared at O'Neill.

'No, that's _really_ what we're doing out here' O'Neill replied.

'You're telling us we're being towed to another galaxy by an Asgard Warship and when we get there we're going to fly on our own to a Solar System full of Replicators, land on a planet we think is probably teeming with them, and then fix a machine that's supposed to trap them there?' Ferretti asked doubtfully.

O'Neill nodded. 'Glad to see you were paying attention' he responded.

The members of SG-2 and 3 looked at each other. 'You're serious?' Major Warren asked eventually.

'Yeah, to be honest with you this is pretty much how I took the news as well when Thor arrived in orbit asking for our help' O'Neill admitted. 'I did say it was a dangerous mission I was asking for volunteers for' he pointed out to everyone. 'We didn't have much time to talk before Prometheus got back to Earth, Thor just beamed everything aboard we asked him to and we needed to get going straight away.'

'And the President approved this?' Ferretti checked. 'I mean they can replace us cheaply enough but the X-303 here is worth a lot of money' he noted. They had spent over two billion dollars on R&D for the hyperdrive alone he knew.

'Once Thor pointed out that once the Replicators have eaten everything worth eating in the Ida Galaxy they'll head for the Milky Way next it wasn't too hard to get approval for the mission fom the man upstairs' O'Neill told him. 'If we don't pull this off we're probably just setting ourselves up as bug-fodder later on when we'll have no chance at all of beating them' he said.

'As opposed to the really slim chance we have now' Ferretti replied wryly.

'You know from a mathematical standpoint even a tiny probability of success is infinitely better than no chance at all' Carter interjected. 'You know the Asgard plan was really quite clever' she opined. 'Trapping the bugs in a time dilation field is a good to keep them bottled up for long enough to figure out a solution to them' she said.

'Inside the field time would flow ten-thousand times more slowly' Jonas chipped in. 'If it took the Replicators a year to escape then Asgard outside would have had ten millennia to design weapons to defeat them with in the meantime.'

'And like oh so many clever plans it didn't actually _work_' O'Neill pointed out.

'It worked partially' Carter replied. 'The copy they made of Reese based on the scans Heimdall took and the additional research by Harlan into Reese herself did give them a means to order all the Replicators to converge in one spot.'

'The bait worked fine Carter it was the _trap_ that failed' O'Neill replied, rolling his eyes. 'Why they just didn't gather them up and then blow them all to hell is a mystery.'

'Wouldn't have worked Sir' Carter replied. 'Even blowing up the planet and making the star it orbited go Super-Nova wouldn't have gotten them all' she said.

'It would have reduced them to a more manageable number at least' O'Neill muttered.

'Not for very long Sir' Carter told him. 'Not at the rate they reproduce' she said. 'The Asgard needed a better solution than just levelling the playing field for a while.'

Major Warren looked puzzled. 'So they used this android to call in all the bugs?' he asked.

'Right' Carter confirmed. 'We know that the Replicators were originally created by Reese and the Asgard discovered that there was still a core command in their code which would respond to a subspace signal she could transmit' she said. 'They sent the signal using their Reese copy, amplifying it as much as they could and then started the countdown on the time-dilation device, giving it as much time as possible before activation so that all the bugs could get there before the trap sprung closed.'

'Wouldn't the first bugs that arrived have eaten the time-gadget?' Ferretti asked reasonably. 'We've seen those things eat _trinium_ for Christ's sake!' he exclaimed.

'The Asgard encased the device in neutronium, the densest material known' Carter replied. 'They calculated how long it would take the Replicators to eat through and left a good margin of error just in case' she continued. 'They shouldn't have been able to get through the casing before the time-dilation field activated and caught everything within point one-six light-years in the space-time bubble it generated' she said.

'_Should_ have generated' O'Neill remarked. 'It didn't work so the Asgard came to us our help.'

'Why us?' Ferretti asked. 'They've got better ships than this and it's their gizmo that screwed up' he noted.

'No Asgard vessel could go through Replicator held territory unmolested' Carter replied. 'The _Prometheus_ is mostly built from Goa'uld and Earth-based technologies and is so primitive by comparison that the bugs should ignore it as just not worth the trouble of eating' she continued. 'The only things on this vessel that might interest them if they knew about them are the elerium-based systems but we know that Loki's designs cannot be easily detected by Asgard sensors which are the ones the Replicators tend to use or Goa'uld-style sensors either for that matter' she said. 'If we were scanned up close elerium would probably only look like regular naquada anyway, they're the same element just in a different allotropic form.'

O'Neill nodded. 'With the bugs, going low-tech is often the answer' he agreed. 'We know that Goa'uld staff-weapons and zats don't do a damn thing to them, but they shatter pretty nice when you hit them with a bullet or some buckshot, so our way of fighting is a better bet if we have to fight our way in and out of there' he said. 'Thor told us that the thing we're after is in an old temple on one of the Asgard Worlds named Halla, so we land right next to it and go in hard and fast before the bugs realise what the crazy humans are trying to do' he said. 'The Asgard have got guts, their fleet has been fighting the Replicators for a long time, but they're not exactly cut-out for a job like this' he noted. 'For a start I can't exactly see Thor packing an AA-12' he joked, everyone laughing in response. The automatic shotguns the SGC liked to employ against Replicators had recoil which would probably break an Asgard's shoulder with the first shot even if he could carry it.

'Thor has provided an interface to the device which is made out of Earth-based technology and materials rather than Asgard technology' Carter told them. 'It's about fifty times larger than the original but it should work and shouldn't cause the bugs to want to eat it because our microprocessors and copper wiring just aren't worth snacking on' she said.

'How do we stop the bugs just switching it back off after we leave?' a Marine queried. 'You're not planning on just flipping the switch and trapping us with the bugs are you?' he asked suspiciously.

Carter shook her head. 'We have a Goa'uld force-field generator which should keep them off it long enough to get away' she said. 'It's pretty bulky and weighs well over a hundred pounds with the power-cells so I'm looking for a volunteer to carry it' she said, 'Looking at you Teal'c' she told the Jaffa with a grin.

'This is blatant discrimination against extra-terrestrials' Jonas opined to Teal'c. 'She's already got me carrying the backpack with the interface in it' he complained.

'Indeed Jonas Quinn' Teal'c agreed. 'We need a better union' he decided.

'Solidarity Comrades' a woman's voice from the back spoke up in support. 'Stand up against the oppression of the proletariat' she said.

'Don't encourage them Andianov' O'Neill responded.

'I am merely positioning myself for when the revolution comes' the Russian replied, trying to sound serious about it.

'Do you want to carry the force-field generator instead Sergeant?' O'Neill asked rhetorically.

Andianov thought about that for a second. 'As Marx wrote, from each according to his ability, to each according to his need' she replied. 'Teal'c is stronger and therefore better suited and able to the job and I need to avoid straining my back' she stated.

'Okay, so now we've decided that Teal'c gets the short straw according to good Marxist principles can we continue?' O'Neill asked, trying not to laugh as Andianov now studiously avoided making eye-contact with the Jaffa.

'Do we have a back-up plan Colonel?' Ferretti inquired.

'We detonate our hyperdrive and all our nukes and try to take as many of the little fuckers with us as we can' O'Neill replied flatly.

Ferretti raised his eyebrows. 'Well Plan A looks a whole lot better now anyway' he decided.

'Thought it might' O'Neill responded. 'Alright, we know lasers probably won't work so I want everyone carrying an automatic shotgun with a P90 as backup' he ordered. 'We've got boxes of FRAG-12 High-Explosive ammo for the shotguns which we think should work pretty well because the replicator blocks from the one you blow to pieces might shatter the other bugs next to it as a bonus' he said hopefully. 'Just don't use the HE rounds point blank for safeties sake' he advised. 'They supposedly don't arm until they're three yards or so out from the muzzle anyway so you'd probably just be wasting them anyway' he said. 'Carry a mix of FRAG-12's and Buckshot, as many drums as you can carry which should be a lot because we're not planning to hike anywhere.'

'As well as standard concussion grenades we have a crate of elerium grenades which explode like a satchel charge of C4' Carter told them. 'Make sure which one you're throwing and really put your arm into it if you're chucking an elerium one' she advised.

'According to Thor we've got a few hours to prepare' O'Neill told the teams. 'Towing us is really slowing him down supposedly' he said.

'Of course mere hours to travel between galaxies is still pretty impressive' Carter commented. 'It would take a Goa'uld Ha'tak _years_ to do this trip' she said. Captain Ronson and the rest of the crew that had volunteered to stay aboard for the mission were probably as nervous about what this journey at breakneck speed was doing to their ship as they were the Replicators at the other end, Thor reassured them that _Prometheus_ would be fine but they were currently tearing across the universe at a frankly ludicrous and frightening velocity. Most of what Earth knew about hyperdrives came from the Tok'ra, and knowledge gained from back-engineering Goa'uld designs, but this was a whole new ball game and looking at the number of light years they were currently doing per second was disturbing to anyone with a hint of imagination. It did however help explain why the Replicators would ignore the X-303 which must look stone-age by comparison to the Asgard vessels that the bugs usually encountered, X-COM wouldn't be all that interested in sending a UFO Retrieval Team to capture a hot air balloon made by the Montgolfier brothers either.

O'Neill dismissed the troops and headed for the bridge. They could have decided to just go this one alone, SG-1 and the X-303 against the universe, but it was the smarter move to bring backup. A skeleton crew might save lives short-term if the mission failed but long-term they were better off putting more resources into this so it had a better chance of working. Thor had noted that if they packed the ship out with grunts that might possibly attract Replicator attention for a different reason so General Hammond had compromised with the dispatch of his three best teams, the ones who had proven time and time again that they could get the job done. Normally the Prometheus would carry well over a hundred crew but currently had less than fifty aboard including the SG Teams so if scanned it would look practically empty and even more unthreatening it was hoped, getting there in one piece was the first hurdle after all.

As he got into the elevator that would take him to the bridge O'Neill wondered what the Replicators had thought when they found the copy of Reese left as bait as it transmitted the signal that summoned them. Would they see the android as technology to be assimilated or might they recognise the progenitor off their mechanical race he pondered. In some ways it would be like looking at the face of God he theorised, not that he thought the bugs had either a soul nor the ability to think in those terms, they were more like a virus than a truly sentient species.

The Replicator's God had not made them in her own image, what it hadn't occurred to O'Neill was that perhaps on meeting her they might decide to remake themselves in _hers_.

**Halla System – Galaxy of Ida – November 2002**

Colonel Ronson nervously watched the Replicator controlled ship approach it did not seem to be of Asgard design and must have been captured from some other poor and possibly now extinct starfaring race the damn things had encountered at some point. 'Our shields are down and none of the weapon systems on-line like you said but I'm fighting the instinct to open up on that ship with the Rippers and the Beams right now I don't mind saying' he told O'Neill, now stood behind him on the bridge.

'Bugs work on instinct too' O'Neill replied. 'They're short on initiative but provoke them and they'll be all over us' he told Ronson. 'We don't look like good eating and we want to look completely unthreatening too' he said.

A bright light seemed to appear throughout the ship. 'We're being scanned Sir' Major Gant reported, looking at her console.

'Nobody here but us primitives' O'Neill muttered. 'Nothing to see here, carry on about your business' he told the Replicator ship.

The light went away and the Replicator vessel moved off again, Ronson breathing a sigh of relief. 'Guess they didn't pick up on anything of interest' he said.

'Saving us for a snack later after finishing the main course of a galaxy full of Asgard treats' O'Neill replied. 'We'd have only given them indigestion anyway' he joked.

Ronson nodded, the Sectoid Plasma Beam weapons might have proven a great deal more dangerous to the enemy ship than the overall level of the ships technology base would have indicated. 'Continue on course for the LZ Major DeLouise' he told the pilot, 'just make it look like we're out for a pleasant inoffensive stroll across the cosmos' he added.

'We'll be whistling nonchalantly on the subspace frequencies Sir' DeLouise replied with a smile, the joke coming out much less forced than he feared it would. In reality he was scared as hell like anybody sane would be in the circumstances.

Major Carter had been looking over another console and looked up. 'I don't know how they did it but like Thor told us before he cut the _Prometheus_ loose the time-dilation field is definitely active and in reverse' she reported. 'Every hour outside the field is roughly four days inside it' she said.

'Damn bugs are too smart for comfort' O'Neill complained.

'Yes Sir they seem to have an innate ability to understand technology and improve upon it' Carter replied. 'In any case we're now inside the field ourselves so we've got as much time to work with as they do now' she said.

'We are detecting one structure at the designated coordinates provided by Thor Sir' Major Gant announced. 'The rest of the planet seems completely barren, no life ad no other buildings, I thought this was an Asgard Colony?' she asked.

'To the Replicators inside the reversed dilation field they might have had decades, even centuries to consume everything on Halla by now' Carter replied. 'The temple with the time-dilation device inside is probably the only thing they wanted to keep intact' she reasoned.

'The weather looks pretty choppy, lots of storms, could be a shaky landing Sir' DeLouise commented as they approached the atmosphere.

'Just don't break the ship, it's brand new' O'Neill commented. 'Carter lets go gear up' he told his second-in-command. 'You will be waiting for us right?' he asked Colonel Ronson.

'As long as a traffic cop or a billion bugs don't move us on we'll still be right where we parked' Ronson replied. 'Try not to be too long though, we don't want a ticket.'

O'Neill chuckled. 'Just remember that if things get dicey...'

'Turn this entire area into a smoking radioactive crater' Ronson interrupted.

'Right' O'Neill confirmed.

'If nothing else blowing up the time-dilation device will stop the Replicators using it' Carter remarked brightly.

'The Major is clearly blessed with a sunny disposition, it would be a shame if we had to spoil it with a short-lived artificial sun of our own' Ronson responded, 'but if _Prometheus_ is going down we'll bring the gadget and plenty of Replicators with us don't you worry' he stated with determination. Overloading the hyperdrive would yield an even bigger explosion than his naquada-enhanced nuclear missiles and they were 1200 megatons apiece, a fair chunk of the planet Halla would be devastated if going out in a blaze of glory became the final option.

'Pity we couldn't borrow a few of those Tollan super-bombs' O'Neill remarked to Carter as they left the bridge.

'The technology was too advanced, the bugs would have wanted them' Carter replied sadly. 'They would have left quite a hole though' she agreed. 'They go from the energy equivalent to the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and upwards in yield' she said. 'The Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan is over a hundred and ten miles in diameter and that would be a _small_ UFT bomb detonation.' she noted.

'Now you see _that's_ my idea of firepower' O'Neill replied enthusiastically.

'Their most powerful devices can crack a whole planet, like happened to Serita, but to be honest anything more than a 100 teraton explosion triggering a mass-extinction event is probably overkill' Carter observed. 'Cracking the crust down through the mantle and exposing the core is just showing off' she opined.

'Teraton?' O'Neill queried.

'Thousand gigaton, or a million megatons' Carter explained.

'Ah' O'Neill replied, as they got into the elevator. 'Better not let Sharp hear you use the o word though' he advised. 'The word "overkill" is probably blasphemy.'

'It is easy to imagine him in the congregation of that atomic bomb worshipping cult they had in one of the Planet of the Apes movies' Carter agreed as the elevator doors slid shut.

The loading ramp lowered and SG-1 leading the three teams stepped out onto the surface of Halla. 'Where are the bugs?' one of the Marines asked, his automatic shotgun shouldered and ready for action but the flat featureless landscape under the dark foreboding sky peppered with electrical storms was deserted. The ground seemed to be nothing but dust and sand under their feet as they started making their way towards the nearby temple.

'Major Warren please tell your team not to tempt fate' O'Neill told the commander of SG-3 sternly. 'They'll be saying "What's the worst that could happen?" next' he complained.

'Yeah, the bugs probably saw _Prometheus_ coming and thought "What could one ship like that do" and look where _that's_ going to get them' Ferretti agreed. 'Thou shalt not take Murphy's Law in vain' he advised.

Carter bent down and brushed away some sand. 'Sir you're not going to like this' she said nervously.

'The planets entire surface seems to be made of Replicator blocks' Teal'c declared, looking down at the area Carter had brushed clear.

Everyone looked down. 'Oh I'd have felt better not knowing that' Ferretti stated.

'Probably more than one layer, and who knows how thick it is. Maybe miles?' Carter suggested.  
'Why would that be?' Jonas queried.

'Well, it could be a by-product of the reverse time dilation' Carter theorised. 'In relative time, they've been here hundreds of years, but there's nothing left here to consume so they're just conserving energy.'

'So what's keeping them here?' Jonas wondered.

'Who cares? Just watch your step' O'Neill replied, leading off again.

'I wish I was wearing sneakers instead of boots now' Major Warren commented. 'I really don't want them all waking up just now' he said, walking gingerly.

Reaching the temple O'Neill ordered SG-3 to wait outside and himself and Ferretti entered first, finding a set of stone steps leading down which they descended. Finding a large room where Thor had told them to expect to find the Time-Dilation Device Carter spotted it and dashed over, Teal'c and Jonas starting to unpack the equipment they were carrying. 'Sir, the original interface is still intact. I might be able to…' she began.

Footsteps other than their own caused both teams to spin around weapons ready as a young man in grey clothing with a quizzical expression appeared. 'Who are you?' he asked.

'Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force, Earth' he replied. 'Who are you?' he asked in return.

'The others are coming' the young man declared.

Four others similarly dressed, two male two female appeared. 'What do you think you are doing?' one asked. By appearance he was the oldest.

'Clocks are running a little fast around here. Thought we'd stop by, wind 'em. We'll be on our way' O'Neill replied, his AA-12 leveled at them, he like the other SGC personnel had already switched from explosive rounds to buckshot for close-quarters combat as soon as they entered the building.

'Your companion is attempting to alter the settings on the time device, and we cannot allow that. If she does not stop immediately, we will be forced to take action' the man responded.

'Well, now, if you do that, we might be forced to take our own action' O'Neill retorted.

The man looked increasingly determined. 'Tell your companion to stop' he ordered.

'Carter, how much time you need there?' O'Neill asked.

'A lot, sir. Maybe a few hours' Carter replied apologetically.

'Hours?' Ferretti moaned.

'The interface has been completely rebuilt. I'm not even sure where to start' Carter admitted.

'Couldn't you crank it up a little bit?' O'Neill asked. 'Move things along?'

'It doesn't work that way, Sir' Carter responded. 'I just wish that we'd bought Dr Zelenka along to help' she added.

'He wasn't keen as I recall' Jonas remarked. The scientist had been among the first to say yes to Thor's offer of beaming anyone off Prometheus that didn't want to come.

The oldest of the strangers laughed. 'Ironic, isn't it?' he asked rhetorically, 'it takes time to alter a machine that alters time' he said in amusement.

'Who are you people?' O'Neill asked him. 'Because, if you haven't noticed, this entire planet is paved with Replicators' he pointed out.

'We are aware of this' the man replied.

'Then you should also know that these things have taken millions of lives, and they'll keep on doing that unless we stop them' O'Neill told him.

Another of the strangers shook her head. 'He doesn't understand' she said.

'You know, he's standing right here' O'Neill noted sardonically.

'We cannot allow you to stop them, I'm afraid' the man told them.

'Why the hell not?' Ferretti asked.

'We _are_ Replicators' the man replied.

'Ah' O'Neill responded, nodding his understanding as he opened fire, the rest of SG-1 and 2 doing likewise, volleying shotgun rounds at the strangers who simply stood there ignoring it for the most part. O'Neill dropped his AA-12 and switched to his P90 but the armour-piercing rounds had no more effect than the lead shot.

O'Neill stopped firing as did the others. 'Switch to HE' he whispered as replicator bugs started to appear.

'Tell your companion to step away from the device' the apparent leader of the human-form replicators ordered.

Andianov dropped her own AA-12 but instead of her P90 she reached for the pistol on her belt and drew it. 'Sir may I try something else?' she requested.

O'Neill shrugged. 'Why not, I got nothing' he said.

The Russian X-COM Sergeant aimed her pistol at the female replicator who had spoken. 'Loki designed this weapon for use against the bugs, I am interested in finding out if it works on these creatures too' she said, pulling the trigger, 'and it does' she said happily as the green bolt of energy from the elerium plasma pistol in her hand slammed into the woman and blew a hole right through her sending her spinning away. 'Back off or I go full-auto and take you all apart' she ordered. Normally she carried a laser pistol but had swapped it out for something she had decided was more likely to work.

The Replicators looked as much surprised as frightened. 'Directed Energy weapons are ineffectual against our kind' one stated, ignoring the evidence of his own eyes, they were clearly quite human to some degree in emotional terms too, already demonstrating humour and stupidity.

'_Technically_ it's a super-heated beam of relativistic kinetic death' O'Neill told him, glad he had memorised the phrase. 'So I guess the question is if you assholes have a sense of self-preservation?' he asked.

'Second can be rebuilt' one responded, though O'Neill noted that the replicator bugs had not leapt to the attack leading him to believe they were being ordered to stay away.

'An exact copy maybe but I wonder if it wouldn't really be her any more' Carter spoke up. 'And I think you think so too' she added.

'If you injure another of us we will kill you all' the apparent leader of the replicators vowed.

'And if you attack us then the Russian gunslinger there blows important pieces off you' O'Neill responded. 'Carter make a note, next time we fight Replicators Heavy Plasma Rifles for all' he said.

'I'll remind you Sir' Carter replied. 'Sir I was serious earlier, it'll take me hours to fix this' she told him.

'Not the most clichéd Mexican Standoff I've been in I'll admit but I'm wondering who gets to make the next move' O'Neill said. 'It looks like we all want to live which is a good start now where do we go from here?' he asked.

'Your grounded vessel is already being targeted by our ships in orbit' the first replicator they had encountered told them. 'Its destruction will be ordered if you harm another of us' he warned rather than threatened. 'I am Fifth' he continued. 'My sister you shot was Second and our leader is First' he said.

'Andianov you shot Second first so shoot First second' O'Neill ordered then paused. 'That made sense didn't it?' he checked.

'Yes Sir' Andianov replied, well it did in a way reminiscent of an Abbott and Costello routine anyway she decided.

Ferretti slung his AA-12 and pulled the pin from an elerium grenade. 'I get attacked by a bug, I drop this and we all go to heaven, or in your case evil robot hell' he announced.

'Smart man' O'Neill praised him, doing likewise himself then looking for a place to sit down. 'Might want to get going Carter, this could be a long day' he said, taking a seat.

'You cannot possibly expect to succeed' First told him as he watched the other humans start to pull pins on grenades themselves.

'Worst case scenario we all die, best case, you decide to live and let us fix the device and be on our merry way' O'Neill told him. 'You'll be trapped but maybe you get to figure a way out' he said. 'Oh yeah, I'll have our ship deposit a couple of really big bombs with delicate trigger mechanisms just outside' he said. 'You try and shoot us down when we take off and it's adios muchacho.'

'This is insane' First declared in an exasperated tone.

'Welcome to the human condition' O'Neill replied, 'and seeing as we're likely to be stuck here for a few hours with nothing to do but chat, how _did_ you end up like that?' he asked out of interest.

**Halla – Galaxy of Ida – November 2002**

O'Neill shuffled uncomfortably where he was sat, he wished the stone floor was more comfortable as he checked his watch. 'Carter aren't you done yet?' he asked. He had already ordered SG-3 to return to _Prometheus_ by radio leaving just his team and SG-2 at the Temple.

'No Sir and every time you ask me just means it'll take even longer' Major Carter replied in a tone that indicated she was getting increasingly annoyed at his periodic interruptions of her train of thought.

Leaning back against a wall Ferretti changed the hand he was holding his grenade in again for about the twelfth time and flexed the fingers of his now free hand, balling a fist. 'Colonel do you think these guys would object if we radioed the Prometheus and asked them to send over a guy with some pizza?' he asked.

O'Neill looked at the expression on the Replicator named First, his mood had clearly not improved during the intervening hours. 'I don't think they'll go for it even if we wanted to share, although a gracious host would have at least offered us something to drink by now' he observed.

'Organic forms store energy so inefficiently' First declared scornfully.

'Yeah but according to the android version of me running on batteries might be efficient but it's no substitute for a good steak' O'Neill replied.

'He must mean the primitive mechanical duplicates we discovered referenced in the Asgard Data Banks found here on Halla when our brethren first arrived' the one called Fifth realised. 'Our creator lives with them' he continued. 'I would like to meet her' he said with some enthusiasm.

'God is going to be a real disappointment guys, gotta tell ya' O'Neill told the human-form Replicators.

Ever curious Jonas saw a possible opportunity to ask some questions, for much of the time the two sides had simply been staring each other out while Major Carter worked. 'We're fascinated as to how you came to be' he told Fifth, they hadn't answered earlier but he figured that it was worth another shot at it.

'_He's_ fascinated' O'Neill corrected Jonas. 'I've got mild curiosity at best, most of what I needed to know was answered when the Sergeant blew a hole in the chick the bugs dragged away a couple of hours back' he said, wondering if the thing was going to be recycled.

'Indeed' Teal'c concurred, simply knowing that they already had effective weapons in their arsenal to fight against these new enemies was enough for him too.

Fifth opened his mouth to reply to Jonas but First raised a hand to indicate he would answer instead. 'When our Replicator brethren discovered the copy the Asgard made of the android Reese in order to draw us here, they realised she was their creator. They studied her design and form and found aspects of her technology superior to their own' First said.

'Our brethren are composed of ungainly blocks' the one called Third added. 'We are composed of millions of cell units, microscopic in comparison, that combine to create this form.'  
'Like nanites, Sir' Carter explained.

'Get back to work Major' O'Neill responded. 'I hate those little suckers' he muttered, ever since being prematurely aged by the ones Pelops had created even the thought of the things made his skin crawl and encountering the ones the Orbanians harvested from their children hadn't improved his opinion any either.

'My creation took place in the last moment before the Asgard time device was to activate' First told them. 'There was a miniscule crack in the neutronium shell. I could penetrate this where my Replicator brethren could not. I managed to stop the machine before it activated and eventually used it to suit our purpose.'

'Which is?' Jonas queried.

'To increase our number' First replied. 'That has never changed' he said flatly.

'Someone needs to add some Planned Parenthood subroutines into their program' Ferretti opined.

'The device your colleague is so inexpertly trying to revert to its original setting gave us all the time we needed to build an army' First said. 'When we choose to leave this place we will be unstoppable.'

'Not so much a when as an if' O'Neill responded, 'a big honking "if" that's getting less likely to happen with every second Carter there gets to fix your handywork' he said confidently.

'Why are you doing this?' Jonas asked. 'You're clearly not unthinking automatons like the other Replicators' he said. 'We don't have to be enemies, we're so alike, you're created in our image' he pointed out.

'No, in the image of Reese' the one called Fourth responded.

'Who was created by a human to look like us' O'Neill reminded them, trying to sound as patronising as possible. 'Your creator was just a science project for some geek and you know she's a long way from perfect right?' he asked rhetorically. 'Even after we got her to stop making new Replicators she's _still_ a pain in the ass' he declared.

'The flaw in the emulation programming was discovered in my creation' First stated. 'Although they did not activate her higher functions the Asgard copy was a perfect facsimile.'

'Flaw's still hanging in there, got to say' O'Neill responded sarcastically.

'What actually happened to the Reese copy you found?' Jonas asked.

'It was dismantled' Fifth replied, 'I feel bad about that' he said.

First looked at Fifth askance. 'We attempted to correct the error in the creation of Fifth' First ssaid. 'But thus far, he has proven to be far too...'

'Human?' Jonas interrupted.

'Weak' First corrected him.

'Maybe Fifth represents what you're supposed to be' Carter commented. 'I'm getting there Sir, just need to let the interface we bought along establish communication with the original device and I can move to the next stage' she told O'Neill, getting up and stretching.

Fifth smiled at Carter but it was soon wiped off his face again by a look of disapproval from First.

'Reese, the _real_ Reese is actually quite sweet' Carter observed. 'With more time to develop her emotional maturity I think she'll be a very nice person' she said. 'She doesn't like hurting people, you being like you are is an accident' she continued, 'she was upset when she found out the damage her toys had done.'

'You being very broken, very _evil_ toys' O'Neill told First pointedly, 'Lego gone over to the Dark Side' he said. 'You were created to entertain a bored android kid not to conquer the freaking universe' he told them.

'It is merely the process of natural selection' First said, 'the strong survive and the week perish.'

'There's nothing natural about you' Jonas responded. 'You didn't evolve, you were made for a purpose.'

'We know the same about you from the Asgard files' First retorted, 'you must grasp that you were made by the Ancients, you cannot think it mere coincidence you look so much like them?' he continued with obvious amusement. 'We are _both_ artificial lifeforms, we're just a lot more accepting of the fact.'

'Statistically the chances of us evolving to look as much like the Ancients as we know Ayiana did _is_ verging on the astronomical Sir' Carter had to agree.

'We're not machines' O'Neill stated firmly.

'If it helps you feel better about yourself to put such a divide between being based on carbon and being based on another element instead feel free to delude yourself' First told him smugly.

O'Neill frowned. 'I prefer the ones that you just shoot at and don't try and get into your head' he said.

First smirked. 'Would you like to get into ours?' he asked.

'I am sure an X-COM Science Team would be interested in dissecting one of you' Andianov told him, her plasma pistol trained at his torso and set to full-auto fire.

'I was thinking something a little less invasive of us and a little more of you' First replied.

'He intends to reach into your minds' Fifth told them.

'Psionics?' Jonas asked.

'No I was being more literal' Fifth replied, earning another look of displeasure and reproach from First. Carter was starting to get the impression that the one called Fifth was very different from the others, he was over-emotional if anything, something like Reese in fact, and seemed to have far greater empathy than the others. 'We can reduce the strength of the reactive modulating monopolar energy field that binds our separate cells to become less solid, able to reach inside your brain and interface directly with your consciousness within' Fifth explained.

'Not understanding all the words but not liking the idea of a hand being put in my head one little bit' O'Neill responded.

'I don't even like shrinks getting in there' Ferretti agreed.

'It would be direct mind to mind contact?' Carter asked, intrigued.

'In your terms as if in a dream within the edges of your subconscious' Fifth told her. 'We know enough about sentient biological forms to know this is possible' he added. 'It would not cause any physical damage' he noted, 'but could be extremely painful' he admitted.

'Yeah I'll bet your blocky little buddies have cut open plenty of poor bastards in order to see exactly what makes them tick' O'Neill responded with undisguised hatred. Jonas thought that Replicators were no more evil than a virus, but O'Neill knew better, evil was defined by consequences as much as by its practitioners and the slaughter which these things would wreak across the cosmos certainly fitted any practical notion of evil he could come up with.

'Of course, we are the sum total of all that our brethren have learned' First confirmed, although he demonstrably had some emotions himself he had no feelings on this matter one way or the other. Anything that wasn't one of his brethren was a lower life form and hence of little consequence.

Carter returned to the interface. 'Crap' she swore, 'it didn't work I'll have to re-do the last two hours work' she moaned. 'What the hell did you people do to this thing?' she asked rhetorically.

O'Neill got up off the floor. 'I want you to listen carefully' he told First. 'We are not going to allow you people and your pets, if people is the right word, to chow down on the universe one galaxy at a time' he said, confronting the Replicator who was also smug and condescending as well as evil making him very close to being a complete asshole as far as Jack O'Neill was concerned. 'Even if this trap thing doesn't pan out, even if you managed to kill me and all my people with me right here on this planet, you're going to find out that the human race aren't like the Asgard or any of the other folks you've steamrollered over the years' he told the machine.

'Really?' First asked sarcastically, stepping closer in confrontation.

'Yes really' O'Neill confirmed, with no intention of backing down.

Carter looked at Fifth again she needed to take a longshot on gut instinct if they were going to get out of here. 'They won't believe you Sir unless we prove it to them' she told O'Neill. 'You say you can look into our minds, then take a look in mine' she told Fifth.

'Carter!' O'Neill exclaimed.

'It's alright Sir, I think that this one is honest enough and wouldn't hurt me more than was necessary' Carter responded. 'I don't trust the others.'

'Not happening Sam, you're the only one that can fix that thing' O'Neill pointed out.

'I'm not sure that I can Sir' Carter told him.

'Then we nuke the place' Ferretti declared, the other members of SG-2 nodding their agreement.

'We kill a few of them but Earth will still have to reckon with billions more eventually' Carter replied. 'If we can prove to these jerks just how determined we are, just how different we are than the Asgard...'

'Just how dumb we are' O'Neill interrupted.

'Yes Sir, that too' Carter agreed with a smile. 'Well then maybe they'll leave us alone and look for some other galaxy to eat' she said. 'No tasty technology they don't have but millions of human soldiers with projectile weapons and a gift for mayhem.'

'Nice idea Carter but if it comes to that, Number Five that's alive can take a look in my skull where he's less likely to learn something useful' O'Neill told her. 'All I got is a lot of statistics on Ice Hockey.'

'We don't have to worry about Earth science falling into their hands Colonel, they're already far beyond it' Carter told him. 'Okay Fifth, take a look, see how determined we are and tell your friends' she told the Replicator.

'Carter no' O'Neill said with finality.

'Trust me Sir' Carter replied.

O'Neill narrowed his eyes. 'Sergeant Andianov if that thing kills Major Carter blow his head off' he ordered. 'And one of his friends' he added.

Fifth was surprised at the human females invitation to look into her mind but as she approached him he did likewise with an apologetic look. 'This really will hurt a lot' he warned her.

'Just do it' Carter told him sharply as he reached forward and slid his hand into her forehead, the pain a bright light of agony for an instant before she found herself in a strange place, a vast plain under an ever-changing sky made up of a kaleidoscope of colours, Fifth was stood there also before her and smiling. 'I don't know what you're showing me but I'm pretty sure it's not my subconscious mind' she said.

'No, Major Carter. It is mine' Fifth replied. 'We share much of our thought, in this way we are connected even with our Replicator brethren. But this corner of my mind is mine alone' he continued. 'It is the only place we could communicate without the others knowing what is said' he told her.

'You're not like them' Carter stated.

'I'm a mistake' Fifth replied as a statement of fact.

'No, they are. A terrible mistake' Carter replied earnestly. 'Help us' she implored him.  
Fifth looked away. 'I can't' he said.

'You can. Because you're more like us than you're like them' Carter told him. 'The others inherited the same flaw that Reese had. But you…'

'The others would destroy me' Fifth interrupted her.

'Not if you came with us' Carter replied.

'You would do that?' Fifth asked in surprise.

'We didn't hurt Reese' Carter reminded him. 'You can come meet her' she added enticingly, an invitation to meet the progenitor of your race should push the right buttons she thought.

'Meet her?' Fifth said.

'She'll like you' Carter told him with a smile. 'If you were to come with us, and the time dilation device was activated…'

'They are my brothers and sisters' Fifth reminded her. 'The other woman with you already killed one of them and I grieve for her despite how they treat me' he said.

'The Asgard device was never designed to destroy the Replicators' Carter told him. 'For them, it would seem like a few days had passed. We'd have hundreds of years to solve their flaw' she continued. 'Harlan is already starting to understand more and more about how she works, we can make them all like you.'

Fifth thought about that and eventually nodded his assent. 'What do you want me to do?' he asked.

'I was lying about the device, it's ready, I just need to be able to activate it and get away' Carter told him. 'We have a force-field generator that will stop them disabling it again, it'll generate a bubble for six feet around the device, but I need them to be distracted so I can set the timer on the time-dilation interface and activate the force-field' she said. 'Can you distract the others?' she asked.

'Yes, if I connect to them to transmit the information I gain from your mind' Fifth replied. 'You will have to give me free access to your memories, the more I take from you the longer it will take them to assimilate it' he told her. 'I will send everything at once, the volume of data will overwhelm them for a time' he said.

'Just don't send them this conversation okay?' Carter asked with a wry smile.

'I'm not as foolish as they think I am' Fifth replied, smiling back as he delved deeper into her mind, taking out the information he needed to distract the others. 'I am much faster than you and can reach your ship very quickly, I will give you a head start in case I have to stop the others pursuing' he told her.

'Just don't be too long, we'll keep the ramp lowered as long as we can' Carter advised before they broke contact.

O'Neill watched Carter nearly collapse as the Replicator pulled his hand back out of her head. 'Carter' he said loudly.

'I'm okay Sir' she replied groggily. 'I'll get back to work now' she said, returning to the interface. 'Hell of a migraine' she added with a groan as she went back to the device.

'Well Fifth?' First asked.

'It was a fascinating experience to share her mind' Fifth replied. 'Their subconscious is so disordered I will need a little while to get it straight and will then send you what I learned' he told him.

First nodded, the notion that the inferior workings of their organic minds were chaotic fitted very well with his presumptions on the matter.

Carter shook her head to help clear it, she had thought sharing her mind with the Tok'ra Jolinar had been bad, or being telepathically attacked by a Sectoid for that matter, but the sheer difference of the Replicator intelligence was so strange. 'I think I might need a component from the force-field generator' she said, reaching for the unit Teal'c had carried here with him and set beside her earlier.

'Don't we need that to stop these guys screwing with the other gadget?' O'Neill asked.

'I'm doing my best Sir' Carter responded, playing with it a while before returning to the Time-Dilation Interface. 'Oh my head is killing me' she complained. 'I need to walk this off' she said, getting up and stepping away from the interface.

She had barely stepped clear when the force-field generator activated, generating a bubble around both itself and the device. 'Now Fifth!' she told him as First and the others started to react.

'What the hell!' O'Neill exclaimed as they Replicators suddenly seemed to freeze.

'Run Sir, explanations on the way' Carter told him. 'Fifth is coming with us, he'll catch up' she told him starting to run. 'The Time-Dilation Device is on countdown.'

They had just cleared the temple, both teams running when O'Neill pressed the transmit button on his radio '_Prometheus_ this is O'Neill, lift off now' he ordered.

'Sir?' Carter queried in confusion as she watched the X-303 rise smoothly into the air raising the cargo ramp as it did.

'Teleporters Carter' O'Neill reminded her. The X-303 might not have fancy long-range Asgard Beaming but it still had the relatively low-tech but still effective matter-transmission system Earth had obtained from the Redemption aboard. They hadn't used them earlier because it could be a one-shot deal, the Replicators would likely learn how to jam them very quickly and O'Neill had told Colonel Ronson that he would likely need a quick getaway.

Fifth reached the surface just in time to see the humans shimmer and vanish from sight as their ship began to disappear into the air. 'No' he said. 'Take me too' he yelled at it.

The others below were now beating on the forcefield, they would force their way through eventually but inside the device was counting down to zero. Fifth returned to his brothers and sisters as the time-dilation field activated, their expressions of disappointment and rage directed against him were the last thing he saw before time froze around them all.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_In the actual episode 6:12 Unnatural Selection__ the Asgard used the remains of Reese__ to summon the Replicators to Halla__. In this story Reese is still alive and living on Altair__ with Harlan__ and the SG-1A androids so I had the Asgard make a copy of her instead (they should have been capable of doing so I'd think). __Given that they had no idea what was going on on Halla I thought that SG-1 was pretty daft to go without any backup so I've taken SG-2 and SG-3 along as support. Several people have asked me to include AA-12 shotguns firing HE rounds in my fics so here we are_.

_We know that a Goa'uld forcefield can keep out Replicator__ bugs (at least for a while) because we saw the personal forcefield of Apophis doing so in episode 5:01 Enemies Part 2__. It seemed the smart thing to bring along a way to keep the bugs off the Time-Dilation Device__ once it was fixed and still give our heroes time to escape. __Yes I've taken a very different track here. The humanform Replicators exhibited several human traits and were individuals who therefore had some interest in self-preservation, faced with elerium weaponry that can kill them they're not the arrogant, cocky, self-confident bastards they were in the show._

_The teleportation tech of Martin Lloyds people wasn't a patch on Asgard beaming so I think the Replicators would have ignored it as being barely less primitive than much of the rest of Prometheus. The Wraith jammed Asgard beams but they had to see them used first, I see the Replicators here having the same problem which is why they couldn't stop the quick getaway of SG1 and SG-2._

_Just a couple of final points, I'd like to remind you that the version of XSGCOM on Twisting the Hellmouth has better formatting than the one here plus hyperlinked references in the authors notes so I do advise people read it there rather than here. Also I think it's time for my periodic reminder about reviews, a minute or two of your time to leave one occasionally is a nice gesture especially if you've actually set this Fic as one of your favourites. Reviews attract new readers and readers is all I'm really after :-) _


	36. Chapter 36

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Goa'uld Outpost – P8C-441 – December 2002**

A volley of staff-cannon blasts from a minor fortification dug in up ahead sent SG-21 diving for cover, the heavy-weapons fire cratering the ground where it struck sending the dark heavy soil of the farmland they were advancing through flying. A sergeant from the US Rangers found a nicely placed drainage ditch and crawled to it for shelter only to find it was already in use by a mud-caked soldier of a different unit holding his L2A2 out of the murky water at the bottom of the ditch. 'What the hell are we doing here?' the Ranger asked his new found companion as more staff cannon impacts nearby rocked their position. 'We're getting shot at to take a fucking _village_ for the love of God' he complained bitterly. 'Fucking Senior Officers' he muttered whilst doing his best to keep his own laser rifle clean.

'We're here because the Jaffa are here' his companion responded in an all too-familiar voice.

The Ranger grimaced, shit, he thought. 'Having a good day Commander?' he asked politely.

'Oh yeah it's just peachy Sergeant' Sharp replied as he lay in the mud. 'Goddamn intelligence reports said a hundred and fifty Jaffa tops, minimal heavy weapons, no air support' he complained.

'Closer to a fucking regiment's worth' the Sergeant opined.

'At least, and half our people are still tied down to the East getting strafed every time they try to move up to flank the bastards' Sharp growled. 'Didn't expect this kind of organisation from Kali's forces either, we haven't tangled much with the bitch but they've got a better tactical doctrine than most of the assholes we fight regularly' he said, scrambling up to take a quick peek out of the ditch before ducking again. 'Proper crossfire with each Staff-Cannon positioned to support the others' he said with grudging respect.

'I spotted another battery of heavy Staff-Cannon being moved up on gun-carriages to that hill to our West before my team scattered Sir' the Ranger told him. 'Looked like something from the Napoleonic Wars, they were using _horses_ to pull them up the slope' he said in wonderment.

'Hey you want to hear something funny Sergeant?' Sharp asked with a chuckle. 'I flipped a coin when deciding whether to attack one of Kali's worlds of one of Bastet's instead' he told the Ranger. 'We're only on Cerador because it came up heads!'

The sergeant laughed despite the situation. 'Cerador?' he repeated. 'Is that what the snake-heads call four-four-one?' he asked.

'Yeah, it's just an outpost on the edge of Kali's territory' Sharp replied, 'we're a long way from the war with Apophis but we're not too far away from a couple of the worlds belonging to Anubis so maybe Kali has so many troops here because she doesn't trust the son-of-a-bitch?' he theorised, taking another look out of the ditch.

'So much for them being allies against Apophis' the Ranger responded.

'They're all back-stabbing bastards Sergeant, that normally works to our advantage though' Sharp said regretfully. If Kali trusted Anubis more there wouldn't be so much opposition here and they could have raided the planet, blown up a few worthwhile targets and got out fast. 'There's no fucking way I'm retreating though' he declared, 'I've called up support from the Omega Site' he told him.

'More troops?' the Ranger asked.

'Better' Sharp responded.

The Jaffa of Kali were starting to unlimber their Staff-Cannon when one of them spotted three strange and unfamiliar machines approaching from the direction of the chappa'ai. Their plan had been to bring fire down upon the Tau'ri invaders and support a flanking movement by a hundred Jaffa stood ready for the task but instead their officer decided that this was a new threat that needed to be countered.

Sending away their horses the Jaffa Heavy Staff-Cannon crews took aim and prepared to fire, they were partially concealed by the terrain and managed to fire off a carefully aimed volley before the Tau'ri fired themselves and then they fired again as fast as the weapons were ready to do so.

The plasma blasts of eight Heavy Staff-Cannon rained down with unusual accuracy among the machines which were larger than the Jaffa had first thought judging by the relative size of the explosions that burst next to them. They also seemed to be floating above the surface rather than grinding over it like the tracked Tau'ri robots the warrior of Kali had heard of before.

A Staff-Cannon bolt finally struck its mark but instead of impacting the machine itself it burst against what must have been a shield surrounding it, the normally invisible protective bubble of energy visible for a second as the explosion lit it up.

'Hit it again, deplete its shield' the Jaffa Officer ordered frantically, 'destroy the Tau'ri machines' he commanded as the three of them continued to advance. As he watched turreted weapons on all three swung around to point at them and instantly searing laser beams began to play amongst his battery, each one orders of magnitude more powerful than the rifles the Tau'ri soldiers carried. Staff-Cannon exploded as the beams struck them, Jaffa warriors almost seemed to burst into flames and flare into nothingness if they were caught in the line of fire.

The courage of the Jaffa was immense, they stayed and manned their guns to the end but were simply outclassed, the additional hits they scored again bursting with futility against the Tau'ri shields, neither damaging the machines beneath or slowing their advance.

Sharp and the Ranger looked out for see what the commotion was and along with a number of other human soldiers they whooped and hollered as they watched the trio of "Mega-Malp" hovertanks float across the battlefield, their laser-cannon swinging around to engage enemy bunker after enemy bunker as they went. As they neared Sharp could see that someone had stencilled "Harvey" on the front of the closest before a Deathglider came swooping in to strafe them, its own staff-cannons again flashing the hovertank shields into sight.

More deathgliders came howling in and the battlefield was soon graced by the sight of the three tanks now fighting back against the air-threat firing not only their laser-cannon but also their twin rotary staff-weapons into the air, radar-guidance and computer-aiming on the machines starting to score hits although the fast moving goa'uld fighters were difficult targets.

A shoulder-launched Stinger missile arced up from nearby as Sharp watched, one of his soldiers a few hundred yards behind the front-lines joining in the fight. It smashed into a deathglider blowing it apart and raining pieces of debris over the farmland a brief second before another of the fighters was neatly cored by a laser-cannon hit from "Harvey".

Other Staff-Cannon from the emplacements ahead started to impact the hovertanks quickly starting to run down their shields further until eventually one of the machines lost its outer protection and the next bolt of plasma struck armour instead.

'No that ain't gonna do it' Sharp said with a grin as the thick Dorchester-type laminate armour-plate reinforced by additional layers of both cydonium alloy and trinium shrugged off the impact leaving only a scorch-mark and a very shallow crater in the outer layer. The machine instantly re-classified the weapon that had just struck it as the primary threat and swung its turret back to engage the Staff-Cannon emplacements instead of the deathgliders taking them out one at a time as it moved up towards them.

Other deathgliders fell from the sky but others arrived from the East to replace them and as the shields on the other two hovertanks failed the trio continued to fight, soon covered in battle-damage, one losing one of the rotary staff-weapons it carried on the side of its turret and another apparently having its Laser-Cannon disabled by a lucky hit. Nonetheless the military robots being remotely controlled from soldiers back at the gate fought on relentlessly, eventually knocking out all the Staff-Cannon emplacements and littering half the area with pieces of goa'uld fighter-aircraft.

Commander Sharp switched on his radio-headset as the remaining deathgliders flew away, presumably recalled to tie down the troops to the East again or else perhaps simply to prevent their destruction. 'This is Commander Sharp' he began. 'The way ahead is clear, I want to take the village and then swing around to trap the remaining Jaffa in a pincer movement, watch out for a possible counter-attack' he warned as he scrambled out of the ditch to be joined by the Army Ranger and several others that rose from where they had been sheltering. He was definitely the dirtiest though Sharp decided with a sigh as he tried to wipe off some of the mud he had been laying in.

'Is that you Sir?' a Lieutenant asked.

'No it's Al Jolson, and I'm about to start singing Mammy' Sharp responded wryly as he cleaned his face as best he could.

'Sir?' the Lieutenant responded in confusion.

Sharp sighed. 'Yes it's me Lieutenant' he confirmed. 'Many casualties?' he asked.

The young officer shook his head. 'Most of us hit the dirt as soon as it started raining plasma Sir' he replied. 'Never seen the Jaffa aim that well before' he added.

'Maybe we've got them raising their game?' Sharp suggested. 'Alright people lets move out and finish this quick so I can get a shower' he ordered. 'Why the hell can't these primitives used proper fertiliser made in a chemical factory instead of manure' he complained, the run-off from the fields into the ditch was not all that pleasant.

Noting that everyone else was keeping their distance Commander Russell Sharp led a skirmish line forwards, they had gone fifty yards before the hovertanks started to follow to provide fire-support if necessary.

As the external speakers on one of the hovertanks started to play the _Panzerlied_ very loudly in German Russell Sharp decided he would be having a few disparaging words with the Bundeswehr Officer from the 10th Panzer Division remote controlling the thing. If that was allowed to catch on on he'd have Scottish soldiers wanting bagpipes next and you could be certain the guys from the US Seventh Cavalry would demand _their_ hovertanks went into battle playing the _garryowen_ next time he knew.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – December 2002**

General Hammond smiled as Walter handed out the files to SG-1 before leaving the briefing room, there still seemed to be a little tension between Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter but the strain within the team resulting from their disagreement regarding leaving behind the Replicator on Halla had faded over the last couple of weeks to the point where they were more like themselves. Hammond had fully backed O'Neill on the call, not only wasn't he one to second-guess the commander on the ground but he also fully agreed that letting a nanite-based, sentient, self-replicating machine loose on the universe was just a little too much of a risk to take just on the basis of keeping your word. The Replicator named "Fifth" might have been an interesting subject for study but frankly leaving it to an Asgard scientist to deal with in a few thousand years time sounded far more appealing.

'Operation Grand Tour' O'Neill read the title on the front of the file.

Hammond nodded. 'With _Prometheus_ declared fully operational we have decided it's time to fly the flag around the galaxy and take the opportunity to re-visit a few worlds on the way' he told them. 'With the goa'uld fleets tied down it's believed the chances of encountering a mothership belonging to the System Lords are slim so it should be a relatively safe mission to undertake at present' he continued. 'At worst we might run into a few patrolling Al'kesh but the X-303 could handle a small fleet of those without too much trouble given how much she punches above her weight' he stated.

'And she masses as much as ten Al'kesh to start with' Major Carter noted, flipping open her own file and raising her eyebrows as she scanned the summary. 'P2X-416?' she queried in surprise. 'The Bedrosians Sir?' she asked General Hammond.

'No our contact with them didn't go so well as I'm sure you remember Major but we were thinking a visit on their rival nation the Optricans might prove productive and beneficial to both societies' Hammond replied.

Jonas meshed his fingers. 'The Bedrosians were the technologically advanced society that still worshipped the Goa'uld Nefertum centuries after he left and thought he had created them on P2X-416 right?' he checked, fairly confident he was remembering Doctor Jackson's notes correctly.

'Right, they were in a low-level conflict with the Optricans who rightly believed that Nefertum had enslaved them on another world and bought them to the planet via the stargate' Carter confirmed. 'A team of Bedrosian archaeologists accidentally proved the other side right by digging up the gate and we came through shortly afterwards but their government wanted to suppress the truth and we had to escape from there under fire' she said.

'With one of the archaeologists, named Nyan' Teal'c recalled. 'He now works at Area 51 cataloguing artefacts that are collected via the stargate' he said.

Hammond flipped a couple of pages in his folder. 'It's thanks to Nyan that we know so much about both nations on P2X-416 and their respective cultures' he said. 'By best estimation technologically they are roughly at the level Earth would have been in a hundred and fifty years if we hadn't discovered the Stargate' he continued, 'they have strong industrial infrastructure and considerable military resources after a centuries long Cold War that has gone hot on several occasions in the past.'

'If we give the Optricans Hyperdrive and maybe a Tollan built Stargate so they can get out into the galaxy they could really make a difference' Carter decided, 'they're certainly another good candidate for membership of the United Worlds at least.'

'_And_ they start out thinking the Goa'uld are evil jerks which is another big plus' O'Neill said enthusiastically. 'Sir, request permission to hover _Prometheus_ over the Bedrosian Capital City and taunt them' he asked Hammond semi-seriously.

'I was thinking something a little less likely to immediately trigger a major war myself Colonel' Hammond replied evenly. 'From what Nyan says their faith in the so-called Book of Nefertum is extreme in many cases, even to the higher echelons of their political and military apparatus' he continued. 'We don't want a Holy War fought with Twenty-Second Century hardware breaking out unchecked.'

'Bedrosian society might very well collapse if the truth came out' Carter agreed with a nod, 'we certainly wouldn't want a few die-hard types in their military deciding to take the Optricans with them when they go' she said. 'We also know from Nyan that both sides have a considerable nuclear arsenal and it only takes one lunatic Nefertum worshipper to turn the whole planet to a mass of craters' she cautioned.

General Hammond looked extremely grave for a moment. 'If the Optrican government agrees with that assessment one option being considered is providing the means for them to launch an effective counter-force strike if required' he told them. 'It would be a drastic measure but better to take out a few missile silos with precision attacks rather than have cities being flattened and millions of civilians pay the price for the truth coming out' he said. 'A demonstration of our capabilities might hopefully be enough to dissuade the Bedrosians from war but if that fails pre-emptive action may be necessary instead' he said. 'A peaceful resolution with would of course be the ideal but it's better to have contingency plans for the worst.'

'We could beam low-yield nukes right into their missile bases from low-orbit if it comes to it Sir' Carter suggested. 'We haven't got good enough sensors or teleporters to just beam the warheads _out_ before they could launch them all unfortunately but we could total a good percentage of their offensive capabilities in short order' she said.

'Good idea' O'Neill told her.

'Thank you Colonel' Carter replied.

Jonas kept reading his file. 'Euronda?' he said, seeing another familiar world on the list.

'Not the Space Nazis?' O'Neill responded disparagingly.

'It's believed that faction will have been utterly defeated by now, they were always at a severe numerical advantage and we know their main and possibly only bunker was being pounded to rubble when you left Colonel' Hammond replied. 'The stargate was buried along with the complex but again a Tollan produced replacement provided to the so-called "Breeder" Faction should prove a welcome present given the state of the planet.'

'Alar and his supposed Master Race poisoned the entire planet' O'Neill recalled. 'So are we going to offer them a new world or something?' he asked.

'We know the Breeders still had sufficient infrastructure to produce advanced warplanes' Carter commented, 'they should be able to pull together the resources needed to re-locate to a more hospitable planet over time' she surmised. 'At worse they could establish offworld farms to help support themselves while their own environment recovers if staying at home seems a better alternative' she continued, 'with the air poisoned they're probably living off hydroponically grown yeasts or something similar like the Eurondans we met before were' she theorised.

'We know they relied on heavy-water fuelled hydrogen fusion for power generation' Hammond noted, 'obtaining that technology could be a boon to Earth and it would cause far fewer questions if the technology was released into the public sphere than our naquada generators would' he said with a smile.

'People would simply assume that the military had perfected fusion power in secret after decades of research' Carter agreed, 'we could radically change the world and still keep a lid on the Stargate Program' she said brightly.

'No more fission reactors or burning coal or oil to make electricity' Jonas observed.

'Add in the radically improved capacitor and battery designs we got from the androids on Altair and electric cars become a much more viable prospect too' Carter added.

'OPEC is going to go apeshit' O'Neill responded with a chuckle. 'Screw 'em' he continued with a grin.

'There's a _lot_ of planets on this list' Jonas observed.

'It includes a number of worlds that we've never been able to achieve a wormhole connection to' Hammond replied. '_Prometheus_ will start out by travelling to Tollana to pick up a cargo of stargates and demonstrate our galactic reach to the Curia and take a roundabout route back home with plenty of stops on the way.'

'Tollana is on the far side of the galaxy, that's a decent trip even at the speeds the X-303 can achieve Sir' Carter pointed out.

'Not quite as far as her last journey to Ida though Major' Hammond replied.

'Yes Sir but that was being towed by an Asgard Vessel, this is likely to be an extended mission lasting several months at least' she said.

'Between five and seven we think given the route' Hammond told her.

O'Neill frowned. 'That's a long time for SG-1 to be away from Earth General' he said.

'You won't be' Hammond replied. '_Prometheus_ will collect SG-1 and other personnel as required at pre-planned times and locations en-route' he told them. 'This will also give the ship the opportunity to re-supply and exchange crew if necessary' he said. 'To give one example there is another stargate within less than a day's journey of P2X-416, Colonel Ronson will collect you there and transport you the rest of the way.'

'Well at least we get to miss out on a lot of the long boring trips through hyperspace' Colonel O'Neill said brightly, he also imagined Ronson would prefer SG-1 to not be around all the time as well. 'So let me get this straight, the X-303 is going on a five-month mission to seek out new life and new civilisations?' he asked straight-faced.

'Going where no Tau'ri has gone before' Teal'c added.

Andianov muttered something in Russian. 'Geeks' Jonas translated having been learning a few more languages of late in his free time. The Sergeant glared at him and he realised she probably didn't want that one converted to English. 'You know with psionics we could probably diffuse a few situations that would turn nasty otherwise' he said, breaking eye-contact with Andianov and trying to change the subject.

'Make the Bedrosian government and military leaders fear us you mean?' Carter asked.

'Or steal their military secrets and give them to the Optricans' O'Neill suggested as an alternative. 'I'll bet their politicians have dirty little secrets they wouldn't want spilled to the general public either' he said, fairly sure that politicians everywhere were slimy crooks as a rule. 'When you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds soon follow' he declared.

'I doubt that either Washington or the UN would approve of excessive interference with the internal affairs of a sovereign nation Colonel' Hammond told him disapprovingly.

'It's their _foreign_ policy I want to keep in check General' O'Neill responded, as far as he was concerned the Bedrosians were deluded goa'uld-worshipping assholes whereas conversely the Optricans sounded like sane decent enough folks by comparison screwing the former to help the latter was all to the good as far as he was concerned.

Major Carter read on through the file. 'We're visiting the Gadmeer on P5S-381 too then?' she said not particularly surprised by that. 'At the rate they were terraforming the place they might be starting to rebuild their civilisation by now even after the detour to drop off the Enkaran refugees on their original homeworld' she said.

'They have interstellar travel, beaming technology and highly advanced AI' Hammond replied. 'They're certainly worth developing ties with even if their military technology didn't seem to match their achievements in other areas' he said.

'From what we know of them philosophically they may fall closer to the Nox than ourselves' Jonas concurred. 'They put a great deal of effort into preserving their art and culture and likely devoted much of their civilisation towards it before they were attacked.'

'Too many statues and operas and not enough money spent on defences' O'Neill commented, 'Hey I'm all for being peace-loving and cultured but there's too many barbarians at the gate intent on torching your art galleries to let your guard down like they did' he opined. It was thought likely that the enemy that destroyed the Gadmeer civilisation and caused the survivors to flee with what they could were the Goa'uld, who although likely behind the Gadmeer scientifically in many fields were much more heavily armed and had likely just blasted them from orbit. 'The guys that sacked Rome probably weren't capable of building a decent aqueduct either but that didn't help the city too much' he observed.

'Happy is that city which in time of peace thinks of war' Jonas quoted. 'It's an inscription on the Armoury at Venice' he told them. 'I'm sure future historians of the galaxy will comment that the reason that the nations of Earth were so able to fight the Goa'uld effectively was because they were so used to fighting each other they had developed warfare to a whole new level' he said. 'Not that I can criticise given that my world is much the same' he admitted. 'I'd back a company of Kelownan Infantry up against several times that number of Jaffa every time, fighting the Andari or Terranians taught my people how war is supposed to be done the hard way' he said. 'I guess we learn more from our enemies than our friends' he supposed.

'There are increasing signs that the Goa'uld are starting to use more inventive tactics some of which we probably taught them' Hammond said regretfully. 'The successes of the Free Jaffa have also demonstrated pretty clearly to every System Lord paying attention that with marginally better weapons and a less traditionally hidebound military system you can whup a feudal army silly' he continued, 'even with basically the same troops on either side.'

'Probably only a matter of time before some snake-head starts issuing Staff-Rifles to his grunts too' O'Neill agreed. 'Then they'll _all_ do it because being able to aim properly matters when your armies are actual armies fighting a war not just a means to terrorise peasants with pitchforks.'

'From what I know of Goa'uld history they haven't fought each other with this intensity or on such a prolonged basis since Ra became Supreme System Lord and laid down a lot of the rules and traditions' Jonas said. 'This is a very dynamic and chaotic era, usually the wars were little more than border skirmishes with a handful of worlds changing hands and only a small number of Ha'taks involved not the fleets which are regularly battering each other these days' he told them. 'It's an opportunity for us to expand and explore but when it's over...'

'We'll be facing a leaner, meaner enemy' O'Neill finished for him.

'Colonel as soon as it looks like one side is losing badly we'll attack the other hard to forestall that just like we singled-out Apophis for attention during the time he was in clear ascendance' Hammond reminded him. 'The Goa'uld may have been shaken out of their rut but we're still narrowing the gap between us every day which is why for _them_ horse-drawn artillery and proper cover-fire is a great leap forward and for _us_ it's building starships when ten years ago going to Mars looked like an epic undertaking' he said with feeling.

'Good point Sir and well made' O'Neill told him.

General Hammond smiled. 'When you're wearing a star or two on your shoulders yourself you'll soon pick up the art of motivational speaking to the troops' he said.

'And if nothing else everyone will look at him and think if he can make General then I can' Major Carter couldn't resist saying.

'Sergeant you're already skating on thin ice for calling me a geek earlier, don't push it' O'Neill warned Andianov, feigning more annoyance than he felt as she choked back laughter in response to Carters comment. He narrowed his eyes at Carter who was now looking studiously at the file, well at least if she was relaxed enough with him to yank his chain a little she must be less sore about the damn Replicator he decided optimistically.

As always Major General George Hammond decided to ignore any breaches of military protocol, SG-1 functioned too well as a unit to interfere with their camaraderie and it wasn't as if they were undermined in effectiveness by a somewhat relaxed attitude within the ranks on occasion. 'Teal'c is there something on your mind?' he asked.

The Jaffa nodded and pointed to a planetary designation. 'One of these worlds on the list is BP6-3Q1 where I was stung by the insect which nearly killed me' he said. 'I thought this world was deliberately locked out of the dialling computer as too dangerous?'

'It was' General Hammond confirmed. 'However the Aschen have expressed a desire to deploy an extremely powerful insecticide over the planet which will eliminate them prior to adding the world to their Confederation' he said. '_Prometheus_ will swap the regular stargate there with a Tollan built replacement that is locked to only dial other Aschen planets.'

'Well I guess nobody else is using it and we know the Aschen are good at the biochemical stuff' O'Neill remarked. 'The planet already has ready-made cities, good spot for a colony once you've hit it with the super DDT I guess?' he reasoned.

'It's a long way from the other systems already in the Confederation though' Jonas pointed out. 'The relatively slow Aschen hyperdrive has kept them isolated in a small section of the galaxy until now' he noted.

'It's as much an act of demonstrating goodwill as anything else' General Hammond told them. 'For all the reservations several other societies seem to have about them the Aschen are potentially the strongest ally we have in the Milky Way' he said. 'They're the second most advanced human culture we know of and they're far more numerous than the Tollan' he reminded them, 'their unique combination of beyond state-of-the-art science and sheer manpower could be the key for finally beating the Goa'uld.'

'And yet never in a million years could they conquer the arena of stand-up comedy' O'Neill joked. 'So when is _Prometheus_ setting out Sir?' he asked Hammond.

'End of next week once the X-303 has been fully provisioned and her complement of F-302 Fighters have worked up' Hammond replied. 'Crews are already preparing to start construction of her sister-ship which should be finished within a year according to estimates' he told them. '_Atlas_ should be half completed by the time _Prometheus_ returns to Earth' he said.

'Closing that gap with the Goa'uld even more Sir' O'Neill remarked.

'It's only a matter of time Colonel' Hammond replied.

**Free Jaffa Camp – P8X-987 (Hanka) – December 2002**

Egeria could not help but note the hostile looks she was receiving as she toured the still growing encampment, it was to be expected of course, to most Jaffa the differences between the Goa'uld and their ideological enemies though biological kin the Tok'ra must seem ephemeral in the extreme. 'I thank you Master Bra'tac for allowing me to visit the new home of the Free Jaffa' she told her escort. Another of the Jaffa Leadership M'zel was following a short distance behind along with her now ever-present guardian Malek who was clearly tense at being one of only two Tok'ra in a sea of Jaffa.

'Any ally against the Goa'uld is always welcome in our camp' Bra'tac replied diplomatically. 'Your companion might do well to stop subconsciously reaching for the the pistol holstered at his side ever time we near one of my people carrying a weapon' he whispered to her. 'From his own body-language M'zel is clearly becoming annoyed by it' he noted.

The Tok'ra Queen chuckled. 'Malek perhaps as a military officer you might be more interested in seeing our Jaffa friends demonstrate more military pursuits?' she suggested. 'I'm sure M'zel would be willing to take you to observe a training exercise?' she checked with Bra'tac who nodded.

'My Queen I cannot leave you unguarded' Malek protested.

'I sincerely doubt that my life is any more in peril here than it would be at a Tok'ra base' Egeria replied with a smile.

'Her safety is guaranteed' Bra'tac told Malek. 'On my honour as a warrior' he stated in a manner that left Malek in no doubt that if he did not accept the Jaffa's word then Bra'tac would be insulted. 'M'zel I believe there are a group of apprentice warriors including Rya'c taking lessons in Mastaba nearby perhaps that would prove educational for our Tok'ra guest' he told his fellow Jaffa.

'This way' M'zel told Malek who followed with clear reluctance. If anything happened to Egeria then Per'sus and the rest of the Tok'ra High Council would quite justifiably have his head on a plate before the day was out.

Egeria smiled at Bra'tac. 'Perhaps now we can continue to talk without the threat of impending violence between our respective companions breaking out any second behind us' she said. 'A more relaxed atmosphere in which to discuss our mutual interests' she added as the two of them continued on alone.

'Your host was originally that of another Tok'ra I have heard' Bra'tac queried politely, though not one for small-talk he knew that such conversation helped things run more smoothly.

'Yes' Egeria confirmed, 'once the Asgard cloned me a new body and transferred my consciousness to it Kelmaa vacated this host and now resides in another' she said. 'A Pangaran named Zenna Valk volunteered to take Kelmaa and they seem to have blended very well both being academics by profession' she said.

'Could you not have simply taken this Zenna as a host yourself?' Bra'tac asked as the walked past a small pre-fabricated building the Tau'ri had provided to be a school.

'I needed a host with existing detailed knowledge of the Tok'ra' Egeria explained, 'I was away for many centuries and it was the quickest way to learn what the current situation was' she told him. 'I was very proud to learn that my children had kept up the fight so long and with such determination' she said with a smile.

Bra'tac nodded accord. 'To see those you have taught the true path carry on your cause is always a source of pride and satisfaction' he agreed. 'My greatest accomplishment is that those I made apprentice like Teal'c oppose the Goa'uld as passionately I do' he said.

The Tok'ra stopped walking. 'Over the years my children have dwindled in number, without a Queen to replenish their number and being unwilling to use the Sarcophagus they are now but a fraction of how many there were before I was captured and imprisoned by Ra' she said.

'This is well known' Bra'tac replied.

'You know of course why I am here?' Egeria asked.

'You need Jaffa to carry Tok'ra Prim'ta and rebuild your numbers' Bra'tac responded flatly.

'Yes and you also need a new source of symbiotes to sustain yourselves so there we can help each other greatly' Egeria told him, continuing her stroll once again. 'We both know that there exists a hostility between our peoples but it is in the interests of both to put that aside' she said as they walked together side by side.

'The drug Tretonin may offer an alternative to carrying a prim'ta to the Jaffa' Bra'tac responded. 'Either sourced from a Queen captured from the Goa'uld homeworld or else a Tau'ri manufactured synthetic replacement' he said.

'Tretonin causes a reaction in a certain percentage of the Pangarans that take it, this would likely mean that even at best not all Jaffa could utilise it as a substitute and besides which although it would keep you alive and healthy it would never be as effective as a symbiote in enhancing your strength or healing' Egeria replied. 'Given that I have no intention for becoming a breeding factory for prim'ta again it is probably for the best that most Jaffa will be able to use the drug in fact' she added, grimacing with the memory.

'It will take a long time before the next generation of Tok'ra comes to maturity even with Jaffa to carry your young' Bra'tac noted. 'Every seven years I have had to be implanted with a new prim'ta as the one before becomes mature and must take a host' he said. 'It will be seven years before the first new Tok'ra arrives even if we agree to this proposal' he reminded her.

Egeria nodded. 'Certainly the existence of new Tok'ra to fight the Goa'uld will not happen overnight' she agreed, 'but merely knowing that they have a future at all has been a tremendous morale boost to my people' she said. 'The Asgard have agreed to save the oldest and most frail of my existing children as they saved me which will act as a stopgap to Tok'ra decline in the meantime' she told him. 'Selmak will be among the first, they might not have lasted many more years otherwise and that would have been a great loss as Selmak is a valuable link to the Tau'ri via their host Jacob Carter' she said. 'Both Selmak and Jacob speak highly of you incidentally' she added.

'As I them' Bra'tac replied.

The Tok'ra Queen halted near a food stall where an enterprising Jaffa was selling cuts of seasoned meat threaded on a stick and held over a fire to cook. 'That smells very tasty' she observed. 'My host originally came from a world that ate similar food' she said, the hosts memories being triggered to the forefront of her mind by the smell.

'Would you like one?' Bra'tac asked.

'Very much so' Egeria told him. 'Unfortunately I'm not carrying any currency' she admitted.

Bra'tac laughed. 'I think that I can afford it' he said purchasing two of the sticks with a coin he took from a pocket inside his clothing, having to insist the stall owner took his money. He passed one to the Tok'ra and they continued on, eating as they went.

Egeria bit a chunk of the meat off the stick, chewed and swallowed. 'The Goa'uld deliberately kept your people ignorant of their technology' she said. 'We will explain it to you though it might be best to start with your children and school them from scratch as even the basic principles of science are something you were denied' she continued. 'In time Jaffa technicians and engineers will not only be able to fly and operate Goa'uld spacecraft but be able to repair them and even build new ones' she told him.

'That would surely take years?' Bra'tac replied.

'And in the interim Tok'ra can do so instead' Egeria told him. 'You have numbers, trained soldiers who can take the field against our enemy while we offer knowledge and a deeper understanding of the foe' she continued. 'Together we are far greater than the sum of our parts' she declared.

Bra'tac frowned. 'My people would fear becoming mere staff-fodder under the command of Tok'ra Officers even if you do not pretend to be their Gods' he told her.

'Tok'ra advisors to Jaffa Officers is more likely' Egeria replied. 'Though if we managed to do as the Tau'ri have and seize control of Ha'tak Motherships you might be wise to let the Tok'ra deal with the engines because they don't really run on magic' she joked.

The Jaffa Master laughed, Egeria was not at all what he had been expecting though he knew from talking to Selmak previously that the Tok'ra did have a sense of humour. 'I would have to have the agreement of many leaders within the Free Jaffa ranks before we could move ahead with what you propose' he said.

'I will also require the assent of the Tok'ra High Council' Egeria told him, 'I am not an autocrat by inclination, to dictate to my people would be too much like being a System Lord for my tastes' she said with distaste at the notion. 'Though I suspect loyalty to me would sway the majority, regardless of their personal misgivings regarding a true alliance with the Free Jaffa, nonetheless I would not seek to pressure them' she told him.

'A true leader seeks those he leads to follow willingly, not under duress, and if they will not then he is no leader at all' Bra'tac opined.

'To the Tok'ra the terms Alliance and Blending are often used interchangeably' Egeria noted. 'The symbiosis between ourselves and the host is one of equals and I hope that a similar outcome might be reached between our two peoples based on both mutual dependence and joint cause' she said.

'Certainly it should be less unequal than our current relationship with the Tau'ri who are often perceived as seeing the Free Jaffa as the junior partner in the fight' Bra'tac replied. 'Having both great numbers themselves, and better weapons also, many are heard to complain the Tau'ri do not regard us highly enough' he complained.

'If I can be blunt too many Tok'ra have died at the hands of Jaffa over the years for my people not to respect you' Egeria responded. 'It is not perhaps the ideal basis on which to build but at least we cannot help but recognise your fighting abilities' she continued, 'and in a time of war those are highly prized'. She finished her food and cast the stick into a refuse heap. 'I have one other suggestion, a request if you will that will bind our peoples together more firmly if that is what they agree to do' she said.

'Which is?' Bra'tac queried.

'In order for the eventual blending of the mature symbiote with the host to work reliably and compatibility between them be ensured, the code of life of the host species is required by the Queen that produces the larval symbiote' Egeria told him.

'The code of life? What I have heard the Tau'ri call DNA?' Bra'tac queried, taking another bite of his own meal from the stick he still carried having consumed the chunks of meat more slowly than the Tok'ra.

'Correct' Egeria confirmed. 'Despite some genetic tampering with your race Jaffa are still mostly human and thus the DNA of your people would be close enough to ensure the compatibility of my new children with human hosts' she said. 'It would be fitting if all new Tok'ra were also in small part Jaffa thus also further binding us together still further in both blood and spirit' she declared.

Bra'tac swallowed. 'Fitting indeed' he agreed wholeheartedly.

'You seem to be the most well-respected Jaffa and therefore the ideal candidate' Egeria told him.

The Jaffa Master looked surprised. 'I believe such a thing would be a great symbolic gesture and it is certainly an honour for myself to be so chosen' he replied sincerely. 'And this is accomplished by some device?' he asked curiously.

'No, we'd have sex' Egeria told him. 'Weren't you enjoying that?' she asked in amusement as he dropped his stick.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_P8C-441__ (aka Cerador) was a world belonging to __Kali__ where she had an outpost. XSGCOM is hitting worlds belonging to several different System Lords at this time rather than picking on specific ones. The war between Apophis and the other System Lords (including Anubis) is at something of a stalemate with most of their respective military might, including their fleets too tied up to help defend systems like Cerador which are away from the main warzone. Basically Earth is kicking them when they're down, beating up on various Goa'ulds as the opportunity arises to do so. We do see Jaffa using __gun-carriages__ to carry __Staff-Cannon__. They've got horses so having them use horse-drawn galloper field-artillery is certainly plausible and would help them quite a bit on occasion. Having the hovertanks remote-piloted by actual human Tank Commanders makes a certain amount of sense to me, they can operate autonomously to a degree, and will do so if the transmission is jammed, but they work better with a person at the virtual controls. The "Mega-Malp" isn't deployed much, they are only very rarely needed but they've got a few ready at the off-world Omega Site for when they are. The __Panzerleid__ is an old Wehrmacht tank-crew song that the modern Bundeswehr still sings (at least in part). The __garryowen__ is the song sung by the US Seventh Cavalry (though they made up their own lyrics to the original tune)._

_The __Bedrosians__ of __P2X-416__ were encountered in episode 3:19 __New Ground__. Both they and presumably their rival nation the __Optricans__ were fairly advanced though lacking FTL Travel. The SGC would likely know a great deal about the two warring states thanks to information from __Nyan__ so they're not going in blind. SG-1 met the __Eurondans__ in episode were seen in episode 4:02 __The Other Side__. The racially supremist group led by __Alar__ were defeated by the __Breeders__ at the end of the episode. The __Gadmeer__ were going to resume terraforming __P5S-381__ after transporting the __Enkarans__ living there back home to their original planet which was off the stargate network. The Gadmeer seemed to be worth establishing contact with given their technology and the fact they appeared to be a nice enough race. __BP6-3Q1__ was the planet SG-1 visited in episode 2:10 __Bane__. The Aschen should be advanced enough to deal with the serious insect problem there easily enough and would likely love to get hold of another world._

_Egeria did take the former host of Kelmaa in the show though there Kelmaa gave up her life rather than take a new host. The problem of some people having complications while taking Tretonin was first mentioned by the Pangarans in episode 6:10 Cure. We also see in episode 7:10 Birthright that it didn't work as a replacement for the symbiote for one of the Hac'tyl so at least for a few Jaffa they would likely still need a prim'ta to survive even with Tretonin widely available. Once they got used to the idea that the Tok'ra aren't like the Goa'uld I suspect they would much rather carry the former. We learned from Hathor in episode 1.14 Hathor the way in which a Goa'uld Queen ensures compatibility of her offspring with the future host species, I suspect that the Goa'uld may not have explained the details to the Jaffa though which is why Bra'tac was a tad surprised._


	37. Chapter 37

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Karagandy Province – Kazakhstan – January 2003**

'Oh wow, that's something you don't see every day' John Sheppard declared as hugging the ground the Avenger he was piloting cleared a rise and the crash-site came into view. They were just on the edge of the Karkaralinsk National Park but the normally peaceful and serene landscape was currently despoiled by a three-deck Harvester Class UFO partially burning and laying in two roughly equal parts fifty yards apart with debris scattered in every direction. 'This thing isn't much more than wreckage' he called back to the X-COM squad in the hold.

'It looked like it was heading towards the Baikonur Cosmodrome so I guess the Russians didn't mess around' the Colonel commanding the troops replied. A pair of F-302X Squadrons flying out of Yamantau had pounced on the thing loaded for bear as soon as it started heading towards the Russian Federations equivalent of Cape Canaveral.

'I think they nuked it' Sheppard stated. Normally they tried to bring the things down mostly intact with Plasma Beam fire so the Retrieval Teams would have something worth retrieving but judging from the state of the craft it had been smashed to the ground by an Avalanche AAM possibly detonating some distance above it. An explosion any closer or with the yield dialled up any higher and the naquada-enhanced warhead likely wouldn't have even left this much of the thing intact he knew.

'These suits are radiation-proof right?' one of the more recently recruited troopers asked nervously as he hoped his powered-armour kept out nasty DNA scrambling particles as well as plasma fire.

'Well they're radiation _resistant_ anyway' a more experienced member of the team replied.

'Keep your armour sealed airtight' the Colonel ordered. 'No reason to open the vents and breath in anything that'll give your kids an extra couple of fingers.'

'Jefferson is from Alabama Sir, nobody would notice back home anyway' someone joked, wearing the armour with helmets on it was sometimes hard to tell who which suited a need for anonymity very well.

'Hey if it wasn't for the inbreeding and the extra digits they couldn't play the banjo so well' another of the team joined in the fun. 'Shit, Loki's clones probably don't share as many genes as the folks back home ain't that right Jefferson?'

'Fuck y'all' came the inevitable response as they prepared to disembark.

Sheppard grinned, a full platoon in powered-armour and packing P3A1's plus plenty of shock-grenades should make short work of anything left alive on the wrecked ship. According to the intercepted Hyperwave transponder signal the UFO's transmitted the alien crew were Sectoids and they likely weren't physically tough enough to stand that kind of arrival on Earth's Surface. Mutons might have survived in moderate numbers the way they were built but although physically superior to regular Asgard the Sectoids weren't.

'Well getting in shouldn't be a problem Sir' a Sergeant opined as he looked at the torn and bisected craft. 'Getting to the control room on the third deck is going to be a bitch though' he added, pointing with his rifle at one half of the ship. The way the ship was divided the artificial gravity elevator that carried you to the upper level on a Harvester was on one half and the bridge was on the other unfortunately.

'Never thought I'd need a damn ladder for this job' the Colonel complained, looking at the wrecked UFO in annoyance as his platoon spread out and started to move in to board and sweep clear the areas they could access. If the thing had come down near a farm rather than a nature reserve they might have been able to borrow a ladder from a barn or something, assuming the ladder could take the weight of a solder in powered armour which was doubtful. He wouldn't have wanted to ask for a volunteer to strip off their suit and climb a ladder in their underwear though either, even without the possibility of radiation from the nuke as an issue. 'Someone pitch a grenade up into the top deck just in case' he ordered. 'We'll let the engineers that take these things away deal with getting up there' he said.

Several sectoid bodies were scattered around and the troopers carefully shot each one with the zat'nik'tel fitted to their rifles before moving on, the damn things could be faking after all. The sound of a mechanical sliding door opening in one half of the ship had them all dropping for cover as a short burst of heavy-plasma fire struck out, two missing but the third impacting an X-COM Sergeant in the side before he could dodge out of the way. It would have been a lethal hit in the days before the powered armour, in fact if it wasn't for the addition of trinium to the laminate it might still have been, but as it was the single hit only blasted off a chunk of metal rather than flesh and as the impact knocked the Sergeant off balance a volley of return fire from four directions turned the already wounded Sectoid into a charred and blasted corpse.

'I'm okay' the Sergeant reported with clear relief.

'We just used up out luck' the Colonel declared. 'Nobody else get shot, that's an order' he told them, resulting in a few chuckles as they resumed their task. At least the suits would survive one of two direct hits from the most powerful Sectoid weaponry, that was a great step forward and had quickly dropped X-COM losses to a level which even normal military units might have accepted. Even hits that penetrated usually had enough of their energy absorbed by the armour that the wounds only required maybe a couple of hours in a Sarcophagus to heal, or even just treatment by a medic with a Goa'uld Healing Device in the Avenger or Skyranger going home. Only a head-shot with a heavy-plasma was a guaranteed kill for the enemy these days and those weren't as easy to achieve in a firefight as hitting the centre-mass of the body.

Up on the ships bridge a Sectoid Leader had regained consciousness as the sound of weapons fire bought him around. He recalled his ship being struck by a huge explosion and spiralling to ground as as he shook his head clear he saw the broken corpse of his navigator beside him. Although not engineered to be particularly intelligent or inventive unlike most of his brethren the Sectoid Officer had an adequate enough IQ and sense of initiative to command both a ship and its crew and he immediately realised that he must have been out long enough for the humans to arrive and start salvaging his ship. The firing must be other survivors of his crew fighting them off as best they could he decided looking around for a weapon and first spotting a Heavy Plasma Rifle which he initially reached for before seeing something better.

John Sheppard watched from the ramp of his Avenger Transport as the troops did their thing, professional as ever. From his vantage point he had a better angle on the upper deck and was the first to spot another Sectoid appearing, yelling a warning a split second before it could fire some kind of large weapon he hadn't seen before.

For a second Sheppard thought it was some kind of rocket-launcher but although it launched a projectile the right size to qualify the warhead must have been guided and self-powered because after launch it immediately pulled a sharp turn, headed off in another direction, pulled another impossibly tight turn, then a third before crashing directly into an unfortunate X-COM Trooper and detonating.

The blast was staggeringly powerful, the trooper was blown to fragments, flesh and pieces of armour hurtling in all directions. The pressure wave from the explosion caught another trooper and tossed him aside like a rag-doll despite the heavy armour, smashing him into a bulkhead with the transfer of kinetic energy shattering him internally as soon as he hit the metal wall.

'Kill it, kill it' another trooper cried out, firing his rifle at where the Sectoid had been though it had now ducked back presumably to reload. Others quickly joined in and soon blasts of green plasma were riddling the upper deck of the ship around the bridge.

'Shock-Grenade' the Colonel ordered at the top of his lungs, 'we need that fucking weapon intact' he declared, 'keep it pinned back there' he added.

Unfortunately not having line-of-sight on his target did not seem to matter for the Sectoid with the new weapon because another guided-missile, or whatever it was, streaked forth and after pulling only two tight turn in flight this time it landed between a pair of troopers ten yards apart and exploded, the blast sending them both flying as it someone had lit off a crate full of plastic-explosives between them.

A sergeant ran up and threw a goa'uld shock grenade up onto the upper deck three stories above. It exploded hopefully knocking the Sectoid out but another trooper joined him and threw a second. 'We need to get up there to make sure' the Colonel said just before the Avenger lifted off and to his surprise glided over, hovering over the ground it's cockpit at the same height as the UFO's upper deck so the pilot could look in.

'All the bugs are down on the ground' Sheppard reported over the radio from his vantage point. 'If I land someone can jump up on the ramp and I'll take off again and manoeuvre so you can jump from the ramp to the bridge' he said.

'Good idea Major, good flying and good use of what's between your ears' the Colonel responded. 'You two, get back on the ship when it land and get up into the top level' he ordered, singling out two of his soldiers. 'Fuck' he swore. 'Every time we catch up those bastards come up with something new' he said bitterly as he looked over the damage caused by the new weapon.

'Sir that was a fucking shoulder-launched guided _micronuke_ !' the Sergeant who had pitched up the first shock-grenade exclaimed with a mixture of awe and dismay. You could bounce weaponry that would stop tanks off the new suits but that thing was in a whole other league.

The Colonel nodded his agreement with the assessment, or rather he nodded as best he could as his now distinctly less impressive seeming powered-armour suit would allow. 'What the hell will Loki come up with next?' he growled.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – January 2003**

The Commander was clearly in a bad mood which was understandable O'Neill thought to himself as they arrived in the armoury to pick up their gear before heading out through the gate. X-COM had lost a lot of good men and expensive hardware in the last week thanks to Loki's new infantry weapon and with the destruction of a Skyranger full of troops over New Guinea only the day before it wasn't one of the best times for the organisation. Apparently an Alien had put a round from one of the new man-portable launchers right through the rear hatch into the hold just as the VSTOL Transport landed, blowing it and the entire platoon to pieces in one fell swoop. 'Sorry about the guys you lost' he told Sharp awkwardly.

'The guys _we_ lost Colonel' Sharp corrected him curtly.

'Right, sorry, _we_ lost' O'Neill responded in embarrassment. He still largely thought of himself as working for the USAF and the United States at heart but knew that Sharp and his people had a more internationalist perspective and didn't draw the lines he did mentally.

'The latest reports from home say that losses for Kelowna and the other nations airforces are rising fast as they start to contest the Sectoids flying over their airspace' Jonas spoke up just to make sure that everyone remembered his homeland and homeworld were in the fight too, spending the blood of their brightest and best in the defence of their people.

Sharp nodded than half-smiled at him. 'I hear they retrieved their first UFO?' he responded.

Jonas smiled back. 'A Kelownan rocket-plane managed to intercept an Abductor Class ship when it was coming down to land' he said, 'it crashed two hundred miles from the capital and a new Special Forces Team which also had Andari and Terranian soldiers on it took down the enemy crew' he said with definite pride before his voice drifted off. 'We lost three quarters of the Team doing it' he said regretfully.

'Sorry to hear that too Jonas' O'Neill told him.

'They died well defending their people Jonas Quinn' Teal'c observed, 'a warrior cannot hope for a better end' he told him.

'The three governments are well on the way to negotiating a final draft of the binding secret defence treaty between them which the UN insisted upon before supplying additional military aid' Jonas said, putting on the armour that protected his chest from a staff-weapon blast. 'Hyperwave decoders are already being constructed across Langara so we can track and detect the stealthy bastards' he said, swearing uncharacteristically.

'Langara?' Teal'c queried.

'It's the original name for my planet, and common to languages in all three nations' Jonas explained, fastening his armour on tight then reaching for the equipment harness worn over it. 'The new agreement is called the Langaran Defence Pact, it was the only term acceptable to all sides.'

'So you're a Langaran now then?' O'Neill asked.

'With the Kelownan government and the others acting less like children and uniting to fight the common foe I'm happy to say I am' Jonas replied then paused. 'If I wanted to wear the new insignia on my uniform would that be okay?' he asked.

'If they pay you instead of us signing your pay-check fine' Sharp replied.

Jonas thought about that and decided there was no way his own people would pay what he got now. 'I'll stick with the good old X with the Tau'ri point of origin superimposed on it' he said, tapping the badge painted on his armour. 'It's bought me luck' he said.

'And a huge plasma-screen TV for your quarters' O'Neill added with a smirk. 'Teal'c what do you spend _your_ wages on?' he asked, wondering about it. 'I mean metal-polish for that thing on your forehead can only run to a couple of bucks' he reasoned.

'I have carefully invested my pay in several high-interest savings schemes O'Neill' the Jaffa replied. 'I hope to one day purchase a prefabricated home here on Earth and ship it to Chulak in pieces along with many time-saving household appliances which I made the mistake of mentioning to Drey'auc' he said regretfully. 'The time-honoured tradition of cleaning clothes by beating them on a rock and leaving them hanging to dry seemed far less acceptable to her once I explained we had a laundry here at the base with washing machines and tumble-driers' he noted.

'Chulak you say?' O'Neill responded as they finished getting ready and heading for the gateroom Carter and Andianov would have been waiting for them already along with teams SG-7 and SG-17 but they had been waylaid leaving the canteen together by Major Davis wanting things signed.

'Once the false gods are defeated I plan to return home and retire' Teal'c told him, following on. 'Or I may go into politics' he said thoughtfully, earning a groan from O'Neill.

'So why have we got your company for this mission Commander?' Jonas asked Sharp as they walked down the corridor. 'This isn't your normal thing is it?' he suggested.

'Looking at ruins no' Sharp replied.

'I think it's the furling transporter thing that has Carter buzzing not the building it's in' O'Neill commented. 'Trust Maybourne to not tell anyone about the damn thing until he wanted something in return for the information' he said.

'We're still not certain that the device SG-2 found in the initial scouting mission is of Furling origin Colonel' Jonas pointed out.

'The writing was Furling so I'm betting the ruins are Furling and the gadget is too' O'Neill responded. 'It's a pretty reasonable assumption' he said.

'Unlike your belief that the Furlings are furry in appearance' Teal'c observed.

'I've still got fifty bucks on that and as soon as I can persuade Thor to dig up an old picture, or maybe a hologram, I expect you to pay up' O'Neill told him. 'So why _are_ you coming along Sir?' he asked Sharp.

'I just wanted a day off the base without getting shot at' the Commander replied.

'Have you ever considered a relaxing vacation by a beach somewhere?' O'Neill asked.

'Side-effect of the drugs, can't relax and do nothing' Sharp replied, 'I get stressed and jittery' he admitted.

'White water rafting?' Jonas suggested.

'I don't even get a buzz out of skydiving anymore' Sharp replied sadly, 'and jumping out of planes was the reason I joined the Canadian Airborne originally because I liked the adrenaline' he continued. 'This seemed like an innocuous enough mission to tag along with, you can think of it as me being an observer if you like, you're still in charge Colonel' he told him.

They arrived in the gateroom where the other teams, Major Carter and Sergeant Andianov were waiting along with a couple of FRED six-wheel robot trucks laden with cargo. 'Travelling light I see' O'Neill remarked.

'Sir the pictures SG-2 bought back indicate the technology on P5X-777 is completely different to anything we've seen before' Carter replied. 'We wanted to make sure we had everything I might need to examine it' she said. 'And some of the equipment is survey gear for SG-17' she added, indicating the archaeological team who were stood with the scientific personnel of SG-7.

'Hey Kershaw' O'Neill greeted one of the members of SG-7. 'Still working off your debt to society in the field?' he said.

'Better than in a cell Colonel' the ex NID operative replied. After helping out on P2A-018, Latona to its inhabitants, Kershaw had been judged sufficiently redeemed to serve out her punishment doing something more constructive than being in prison. She did have a gift for understanding alien technology which is why she had been assigned to SG-7 and in part she was the reason SG-7 was on this very mission. 'Didn't think I'd ever get another job from Colonel Maybourne though' she added with amusement, Maybourne had controlled the offworld NID Team she was on directing them via a Goa'uld long-range communication device.

'That man is full of surprises' O'Neill replied unable to resist a smile as the gate started to spin up. A couple of days before an embarrassed looking Maybourne had arrived back at the SGC with a clearly pregnant Aikaterina asking if she could be checked out by Doctor Fraser and requesting to retire offworld with his new "family". Expecting some resistance, as a sweetener he offered to give up some information he had been holding back about an piece of technology made by one of the four great races, plus an artefact needed to activate it. Saying he had too many enemies to return to Earth he asked to be sent to a suitably quiet and out-of-the-way planet to make his new home instead. The Tok'ra suggested a suitable one from their own lists and after considerable teasing from Jack O'Neill regarding his changed circumstances Harry Maybourne and the ex-slave he now called his wife had stepped back through the gate to start a new life.

Aikaterina had apparently stared wide-eyed at the ultrasound image of what showed to be her unborn daughter although she at least had the excuse of thinking it must be magic, Maybourne going very quiet and staring himself was purely down to freaking out inside as the realisation of what was going on sunk in just a little deeper. He wasn't quite sure if fate was punishing him or else this was a largely undeserved reward, but either way he had to admit it wasn't the worst way his life could have turned out. He had already wed Aikaterina in a ceremony a village cleric of some weird offworld sun-worshipping denomination carried out in return for a very nice pair of boots and Maybourne earnestly hoped he wouldn't be too bad a husband or father.

Colonel O'Neill leading the three teams stepped through the gate to P5X-777, SG-17 and Jonas Quinn to look at the ruins and any inscriptions in the walls, SG-7 and Major Carter interested in the Transportation Arch they housed and the remainder of SG-1 there to make sure the nerd patrol weren't shot up by some random Goa'uld or Jaffa turning up.

'I think I'll go for a wander down that way' Commander Sharp said brightly as they split up, indicating a largely overgrown path leading away from the ruins on the opposite side of the ruins from the stargate.

'Should he be heading off alone, what if there are dangerous animals here or something?' Jonas asked O'Neill as Sharp walked off.

'If they're stupid enough to attack something that puts out the vibes he does then they deserve everything they get' O'Neill replied in amusement. 'Sergeant stay here and keep your eyes open' he told Andianov, 'Teal'c take a scout around but don't go too far out' he ordered. 'Don't shoot at anything furry unless it attacks you' he added.

'Once again I must point out we have no reason to believe that Furlings are in any way furry O'Neill' the Jaffa responded.

'Care to raise that bet?' O'Neill asked. 'Double maybe?' he suggested.

'Indeed' Teal'c confirmed, a few more sucker bets like that and it would be O'Neill that paid for his wife's desired refrigerator and freezer, plus perhaps even the fireplace over which to hang a staff-weapon or two, assuming he had a say in the decorating.

Carter and Kershaw had already opened up the control panel on the transporter arch to take a look and they were almost cooing about the interesting new device as they looked it over. Maybourne had already told them his theory that with the key he provided locked into place and dialled to the right combination it would transport you to the large moon orbiting the planet, which was massive enough that they were effectively a planetary binary and was more than capable of holding a decent atmosphere itself, but they weren't there to go on what could be a one-way trip they wanted to see if they could safely dismantle the thing and bring it back home for detailed study. 'Worth the trip Major?' O'Neill asked.

'Oh yes Sir' Carter enthused. 'The technology doesn't resemble Goa'uld, Asgard, Tollan types or the product of any of the other advanced societies we've seen before' she said.

'Speak for yourself' Kershaw told her. 'The design principle is reminiscent of the Madronan Touchstone that the NID found on PX7-941' she said. 'You guys just gave it back to them didn't you?' she asked rhetorically.

'Yes, because you didn't find it you _stole_ it' O'Neill responded flatly.

'And _because_ of that I've got a much better idea of what I'm doing here than Major Genius here' Kershaw replied. 'So it all worked out well in the end' she said.

'The ends don't always justify the means Kershaw' O'Neill told her. 'And the means sometimes land you in jail' he reminded her.

'Technically last time they landed me with a death sentence for treason which you helped get commuted' Kershaw corrected him. 'Which is pretty much why you can depend on me being a good little soldier from now on Sir' she told him.

'Out of gratitude or a fear of getting it _un_-commuted?' O'Neill asked.

'A little of column A and a little of column B' Kershaw replied. 'And I do enjoy the work' she said happily, turning back to the device. 'Come on Major I'll talk you through this slowly' she told Carter who scowled at her.

Commander Russell Sharp came to the bank of a stream and took a seat on a rock, picking up a few pebbles to throw into it. 'Such a green pleasant galaxy we live in' he observed with a chuckle as he tried skipping a flat stone over the surface. The large alien moon overhead spoiled the illusion he might have been back home in Canada but otherwise it could have been home and it was nice to be away from things for a while.

Spotting a nice-sized fish Sharp idly considered throwing in a grenade and bringing back some fresh food for the troops but it would have spoiled the scene. 'That's it' he said decisively, getting back up, 'I need a hobby and a girlfriend before I go strange' he declared. 'Okay, strange-er' he admitted to himself honestly, whistling as he continued along down the track which now followed the stream.

**Stargate - Tok'ra Homeworld - January 2003**

Looking around after she walked through the stargate Sarah Gardner looked up at the crystalline towers which dominated the arid landscape. 'I thought you people built underground?' she asked her companions.

'Normally we do but this world is not known to the goa'uld and does not appear on any records' the Tok'ra Aldwin told her. 'If you look at the chappa'ai you will see it is of Tollan rather than Ancient manufacture' he said.

Sarah turned around and inspected the stargate, it was a great deal slimmer than the one she had departed Earth from via the SGC. 'Those Tollan are clever people' she observed, tapping the device on her chest, the light from it glowing blue to indicate that she not the Goa'uld Osiris was currently in control of the body she unwillingly shared with the thing.

'Yes the Tollan are highly advanced' Aldwin agreed.

'So can we hurry up and get this damn parasite out of my head and into a blender' Sarah requested, 'no offence' she quickly told the Tok'ra who was pretty much the same as Osiris really from a physiological if not philosophical perspective.

Aldwin smiled. 'None taken' he replied. 'I'm afraid the ritual itself is quite lengthy' he apologised.

'Not a problem after all the time I've waited for this' Sarah replied, 'just unlock this thing so the Goa'uld has to sit through it, I'll just gloat from the gallery back here' she said, tapping the side of her head.

'Follow me please' Aldwin told her and they headed down the trail towards the small city the Tok'ra had literally grown there.

This might have all occurred quite some time ago if not for a quirk of fate Sarah Gardner thought to herself regretfully. Osiris had been captured and then detained for months as it was interrogated but eventually everything it apparently knew was known to X-COM and they were more than happy at that point to let the Tok'ra remove the Goa'uld from its host but then Anubis had arrived on the scene seeking the various Eye Crystals and the removal was postponed. One of the Eyes had belonged to Osiris millennia ago and the Goa'uld claimed it knew where it was but wouldn't say unless it was freed. X-COM was highly unwilling to actually free Osiris but a decision was taken to postpone the extraction procedure much to the chagrin of Sarah of course.

The Tollan had been persuaded by the SGC, and an appeal by the sympathetic Tok'ra, to hand over a so-called "Detachment Device" which she could wear so that Sarah not Osiris was in charge but despite getting control of her body back she still couldn't control her own destiny, continuing to be kept in a secure X-COM for obvious reasons. With Daniel gone there wasn't even a friendly face to visit sometimes and she had become increasingly despairing of whether she would ever be totally free of the thing which had hijacked her body when news had arrived recently that Anubis had now located the Eye of Osiris in ruins on one of the worlds the goa'uld used to control. This was bad news as far as X-COM and the SGC was concerned but very good news for Sarah Gardner herself since there was now no reason not to go ahead with the extraction.

'Does this hurt?' Sarah asked.

'Yes' Aldwin confirmed. 'Although the host suffers far less than the symbiote' he told her, 'for the goa'uld it will be excruciating' he said.

Sarah thought about that. 'So can you draw that part out?' she asked.

'You would wish to prolong your pain?' Aldwin asked in confusion.

'If it's going to hurt _it_ a lot more than _me_ yes' Sarah replied vindictively, noting the rising fear and apprehension of the goa'uld within her with considerable satisfaction. She was going to get her life back and Osiris was going to suffer, this was a very good day she decided happily.

'You were held at Area 51?' Aldwin asked, making conversation as they walked to the city. 'I once visited the facility' he told her.

'Yes, most of the time I was in a cell about ten stories underground but they've given me much more leeway to move around since I got the gadget here' Sarah replied. 'They even gave me some work to do, they're always bringing relics back through the gate and I helped sort and catalogue them before they were put into storage to keep me busy' she said, it had also bored Osiris stupid which was a plus.

'Did you converse with Nirrti often?' Aldwin asked curiously.

Sarah laughed. 'Just about the only thing Osiris and I ever agreed on was that Nirrti is a total bitch' she replied. 'The other goa'uld prisoners like Imhotep were always locked up tight so we never really talked.'

'We plan to extract Imhotep from his host K'tano very soon' Aldwin told her. 'It is highly unusual for a goa'uld to take a Jaffa as host' he continued, 'we may have to modify our method and will need a prim'ta immediately available to place in K'tano or he would likely die' he said. 'K'tano may in fact be the first Jaffa to carry one of the new generation of Tok'ra now Egeria our Queen has returned' he added with a broad smile.

'What does "gonach" mean?' Sarah asked randomly.

'It is a deeply insulting term of abuse' Aldwin replied, surprised by the question.

'Ah, Osiris just called Egeria one' Sarah replied, 'they used to know each other' she said.

'Which may explain why our Queen insisted on being present for the extraction' Aldwin responded. 'And why she seems to happy about it' he reasoned.

They continued to walk along the path. 'Okay so why don't you people use cars?' Sarah asked eventually as they neared the buildings.

'We feel walking is both good exercise and...' Aldwin began to reply when Sarah disappeared in a flash of light that seemed to streak upwards for a split second. 'Mai'tac' he swore, looking at where she had been standing.

Sarah Gardner re-appeared alone on what she assumed was the bridge of a ship, through the window she could see the planet below and then watched as what appeared to be a swirling hole in space opened up and the ship dived into it, thanks to Osiris she knew they had just gone into hyperspace.

Another flash of light behind her caused Sarah to spin around and she saw a throne-like chair appear with a small grey being sat upon it, she recognised the species as Asgard, she had met Heimdall at Area 51. 'I am Loki' the alien introduced itself. 'You won't be needing that' he continued and the Detachment Device Sarah was wearing itself vanished in a flash of light.

Osiris took control again, easily forcing Sarah Gardner into the background. 'I am Osiris, thank you for freeing me' she said with a smile, waiting to hear exactly why. 'I have heard of you of course, you are a frequent topic of conversation amongst my former jailers' the goa'uld noted.

'Consider it an act of good faith' Loki replied, 'we are currently upon my personal vessel which is of modified Asgard design, far faster and less easily detected or tracked than anything the Goa'uld or Tok'ra have themselves' he said. 'Unfortunately I could not have liberated you in this manner whilst you were still on Earth, as Thor and the Asgard High Council have sensors in orbit there which would detect both this ship and the use of beaming technology' he explained.

'And I assume this welcome though highly unexpected liberation has a price?' Osiris asked.

'Of course' Loki replied, 'I wish you to work for me' he said.

Osiris laughed. 'A Goa'uld work for a rogue Asgard?' she asked in amusement. 'Why would you want me and why would I accede to the request?'

Loki looked smug, or at least as smug as Asgard facial expressions would allow. 'I feel I have a need to infiltrate the governments, intelligence agencies and corporate businesses on Earth' he replied, 'unfortunately neither myself nor any of my creations are suitable for the task whereas you both look human and have a host with detailed knowledge of Earth society and culture' he explained. 'As for why you will agree if you do not I will beam you outside' he told the goa'uld, raising an arm to point out into hyperspace.

'You make a persuasive case as to obtaining my agreement' Osiris conceded. 'But why would you want to infiltrate the tau'ri?' she queried, 'your technology is far more advanced.'

Loki now looked annoyed. 'They have proven a quite inexplicable thorn in my side' he replied, 'their successes against the System Lords equally perplexing' he continued, 'they need watching and curtailing or if left unchecked and unmonitored they could prove a menace to my plans' he said. 'They offer too valuable an opportunity to test my forces against to simply annihilate them now but they certainly need a more watchful eye and require more extensive scrutiny' he stated.

'And to achieve this you will return me to the Tau'ri homeworld?' Osiris asked, 'how if this vessel would be detected?'

'I have a new type of large attack craft which when fitted with a prototype cloaking device can transport you to Earth undetected by any sensor' Loki replied. 'It will have to land as simply beaming you to the surface is unfortunately not an option' he said. 'Afterwards the pilot will return the craft to base' he told her.

'You plan to drop me off in the middle of nowhere with no means to achieve the objectives you set for me?' Osiris asked.

'No you will have these to aid you' Loki told her, moving a control stone to cause a table to appear before the Goa'uld holding several familiar and unfamiliar objects.

Osiris smiled and first picked up the ribbon device to put it on her hand and wrist. 'Hello old friend' she told it warmly. 'I assume this will not work on you?' she asked.

'No' Loki confirmed. 'The ring there is a za'tarc weapon, you are familiar with the healing device and other goa'uld items of course.'

'Of course' Osiris confirmed, picking up pain stick and inspecting it. 'Though some items are unfamiliar' she noted.

'The silver metal sphere is a Mind Probe of my own design' Loki told her, 'the small box merely contains a goa'uld long-range communication device modified for secure contact with myself and the cloth bag contains precious stones of different types in order to help you establish yourself financially' he said.

'The Tok'ra carry these' Osiris noted, picking up the large handgun on the table.

'Plasma pistol' Loki explained, 'elerium-powered and more powerful than a staff-weapon' he said. 'The humans of X-COM do not usually use them and so provide any captured examples to the Tok'ra where there smaller size likely makes them more attractive to their methods than the larger plasma weapons' he said.

'You are well informed' Osiris told him.

'I have my sources' Loki replied cryptically. 'Though their unreliability necessitates your recruitment' he continued. 'I was notified that you were to be transported to the new Tok'ra world in advance' he said.

'Interesting' Osiris replied, Loki must have an agent within the Tau'ri already she decided as she tested the weight and handling of the pistol. 'I will require a full crate of these plus ammunition' she told him, Loki had only given her an unloaded one of course. 'I will be recruiting my own people once on Earth and prefer them to be well-armed' she said, looking along the sights of the weapon at the far bulkhead.

'So you agree to my offer of employment?' Loki asked.

'Best offer I've had in quite a while and it does give me the opportunity for revenge which is always sweet' Osiris replied with a smile. 'I have not had Tau'ri servants or worshippers in too long' she continued, opening the bag and inspecting the gems, they would be worth millions of dollars she knew.

'Once this mission is complete with my assistance you could rise to be a great System Lord again' Loki told Osiris, 'I would make a powerful ally in your power-struggles with the other goa'uld.'

'And why would you be interested in our politics?' Osiris asked, putting the pistol back on the table.

'Anubis worries me, long-term he could be a threat to the Asgard and I will not countenance that' Loki replied. 'You seem far more agreeable and moderate in your desires.'

Osiris laughed. 'An Asgard traitor with his own private army as a sponsor, this is not how I expected the day to turn out' she said, meanwhile at the back of her mind Sarah Gardner was screaming which made it all even better.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_The __Blaster Launcher__ was the weapon that made X-COM Troopers wearing Powered Armour look much less unstoppable, to quote: "This man-portable total destruction device is the heaviest weapon alien artifact you'll discover. It fires the football-shaped Blaster Bomb which can hover and route through up to nine programmable waypoints before detonating on impact with a small explosion. 'Small' being a relative term for battlefield nuclear weapons. A safety radius of 10-20 meters is a good guideline"_

_Both the __Transport Portal__ Harry Maybourne told the SGC about in episode 6:15 __Paradise Lost__ and the __Touchstone__ seen in episode 2:14 __Touchstone__ appeared to be of __Furling__ design these being the only one of the __Alliance of Four Great Races__ we never saw in person. Harry Maybourne ran the offworld NID Team (from back home on Earth) that took the Touchstone and included __Kershaw__ (who we last saw in chapter 22) so it seemed a nice tie-in to bring her back in now, as one of the rogue teams experts in alien technology she might have been the one that played with the Touchstone and hence knew a little more about the basic principles of Furling tech than Carter who would have never seen it before. Harry still ends up retiring off-world at this point as he did in the show (to be seen later in Season 8) but here with the pregnant Aikaterina... yeah well I thought it would be sweet (I don't just write jokes and violence!) and besides which Maybourne with a little daughter next time we see him has comedic possibilities._

_Dr Sarah Gardner__ was taken in episode 4:14 __The Curse__ as host of __Osiris__. In the show she escaped and ended up working for Anubis, here she ends up working for Loki instead. We see how the Tok'ra would live if not being chased by the Goa'uld in Stargate: Continuum, I based their __homeworld__ here on that. I've sort of swapped the roles of two goa'uld characters here in XSGCOM. In the show it was __Athena__ who infiltrated on Earth not Osiris but here conversely it's Athena that works for Anubis instead (and caught Thor a few chapters back instead of Osiris) so it all balances out nicely! In X-COM there was a pro-alien religious group known as the Cult of Sirius who you came to blows with on occasion, in XCOM: Apocalypse they usually carried Plasma Pistols so if Osiris is setting herself up with followers on Earth giving them those weapons seemed apt (Sirius was the wife of Osiris in Egyptian mythology incidentally). __Later on in XCOM: Interceptor the aliens do start using cloaking devices which you can't track (although they drop them to fire), Loki is going to use one of these on a Phantasm Type 3 Fighter to get Osiris to Earth without using Asgard Tech. The Phantasm is a larger craft than the Type 1 or 2 that Earth has encountered already._

_Hope you're enjoying the story :-)_


	38. Chapter 38

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – January 2003**

'Why the hell would Loki want a Goa'uld, let alone one that spent the last few thousand years in a jar?' O'Neill wanted to know. 'I mean are we sure it was him?' he asked. 'I mean we know Anubis got his hands on Asgard tech when he had a trawl through Thor's mind right?' he reminded everyone as they sat around the briefing table.

'If Anubis knew where the Tok'ra base was it's a fair assumption that he would have flattened the place Colonel' General Hammond reasoned.

'Are we _certain_ the Tok'ra are telling the truth about what happened though Sir?' O'Neill checked. He wasn't very trusting when it came to the Tok'ra.

'They're currently relocating their entire base so they're going to extreme lengths if they're not Sir' Major Carter replied. 'Several witnesses reported Sarah Gardner being beamed away and then a ship in orbit which had been invisible to their sensors opened a hyperspace window to escape' she continued. 'It must have originally arrived outside the system and travelled the rest of the way on sublight to avoid attention' she reasoned. 'If it wasn't the Asgard themselves, and it wasn't Anubis, then Loki is the most likely candidate.'

'Which brings me back to _why_ he'd want an out-of-the-loop goa'uld' O'Neill again questioned. 'He could have stolen a more useful snakehead from half the systems in the galaxy' he noted.

'Useful how Colonel?' General Hammond asked.

'Up to date intel on the System Lords, the latest goa'uld technology' O'Neill responded, 'you know, actually valuable information.'

Jonas looked thoughtful. 'Perhaps he wanted the host?' he suggested. 'Sarah Gardner is an archaeologist which might seem to Loki a useful target for kidnapping if he was thinking how important Doctor Jackson seemed to be?' he said. 'She used to date him and is probably more familiar with his supposedly wacky, but as we all know surprisingly accurate, theories on Ancient Egypt.'

'Maybe but it doesn't sound convincing' O'Neill replied.

'Perhaps he just thought that she knew more about X-COM and the SGC than she does?' Carter hypothesised. 'She was being held at Area 51 for quite some time after all.'

'Maybe' O'Neill conceded. 'We have been a monumental pain in his ass the last couple of years and Goa'uld can be pretty forthcoming if you give them the option information or the airlock' he said. 'On the other hand he could have just swiped any of us when we were on an off-world mission and probed it out of us' he noted.

General Hammond nodded. 'Our Military Intelligence people thought the same' he said. 'They have a theory that perhaps Loki wants to use a now powerless but still well-known Goa'uld as an intermediary between himself and the System Lords perhaps seeking cooperation or alliance' he told them.

'Why would be do that General Hammond?' Teal'c queried.

'Because with the Replicators no longer tying down the Asgard Fleet it may be that he thinks Thor and the High Council will decide to deploy more resources to this galaxy and hunt him down' Hammond explained.

'The Asgard are too busy trying to rebuild and establish a new colony to do that Sir' Carter replied.

'Yes but does _Loki_ know that Major?' Hammond replied. 'We have no idea how well informed he is about events in Ida, if he is only receiving poor intelligence he may know of the Replicator defeat but not how weak the Asgard currently are' he said.

'The latest Goa'uld vessels upgraded still further with more Asgard technology and Loki's own would be far better able to stand up to the new O'Neill Class ships than anything they have already' Carter noted. 'Of course this is predicated on the idea that Loki would be willing to fight his own people or help the System Lords do so' she said.

'Who the hell knows what goes on in his head?' O'Neill asked rhetorically.

'He might rationalise it as fighting his government to save his people' Jonas theorised. 'Anyway we don't really know I guess.'

O'Neill had a determined look in his eye. 'When we catch him we'll ask but it won't be the first thing we say I'll bet' he said. 'I've got a few choice phrases to say to the son-of-a-bitch myself' he declared.

General Hammond nodded. 'Better get to him before some of the X-COM people Colonel because I don't know how able he'll be to respond after the likes of Commander Sharp have had their way' he said.

'Where is he anyhow?' O'Neill queried. 'I expected him to be here with that expression he has when he's more pissed than normal' he said. 'You know the one that looks like he's chewing a ball of barbed wire' he explained to Jonas who had looked confused.

'He's in Quebec City, as to his expression at the moment I couldn't say because I'm not sure on how he views receiving decorations' Hammond replied.

'Decorations Sir?' Carter asked.

'I believe they call it the Canadian Order of Military Merit, the highest rank is actually Commander strangely enough' Hammond explained. 'The Governor-General is presenting him with it, officially for services to UN Peacekeeping rather than UN Warmaking of course.'

'That doesn't make him a Knight or something does it?' O'Neill wanted to know.

'Not as far as I'm aware Colonel, I don't think the Canadians do that like the British' Hammond replied. 'In any case plenty of people already call him Sir so how much could it matter?' he asked in amusement.

'Only because he'd probably start carrying a sword or something' O'Neill replied. 'When is he back?'

'The day after tomorrow Colonel, there's a mission planned he wants to lead' Hammond replied.

'Blowing things up or stealing technology?' O'Neill checked.

'A little of both' Hammond replied.

O'Neill smiled. 'Sounds good, room for another team?' he checked.

'Sorry Colonel, SG-1 is already assigned for another task' Hammond told him. 'I need a team to investigate P2X-005.'

'That's just Recon isn't it Sir?' O'Neill groaned.

'You can't get the fun assignments all the time Colonel' Hammond told him. 'The other teams complain' he added with what seemed to be an amused, perhaps slightly paternal smile.

'Nothing interesting happened on P5X-777 or P3X-367' O'Neill complained. 'We've got to be due a good mission soon' he said.

Carter looked confused. 'Sir we examined the Furling Transporter Arch on P5X-777 and found that Ancient Artefact which might be a genetic manipulator on P3X-367' she reminded him. 'Fascinating and highly advanced technology in both cases' she said.

'Like I said, nothing interesting happened' O'Neill reaffirmed. 'You looked at alien gadgets, Jonas poked around some ruins, I think Teal'c meditated and I ended up throwing empty cans into the air so Andianov could shoot them' he said. 'Oh right, she said to apologise for not being here but she's getting her shots from Doctor Frasier' he told the General. 'I think she was being sincere when she said she'd have rather been here than getting a needle stuck in her ass but the Doc was going to some kind of lecture at the hospital later so she couldn't postpone the drugs.'

'I'm never going to be happy about having personnel within this command taking those' General Hammond responded.

'At least they seem to work' O'Neill replied, 'you should have seen how fast the Sergeant could draw that pistol and shoot down those cans' he said. 'If SG-1 is ever attacked by ration packs they won't stand a chance' he stated with certainty.

Jonas frowned. 'I've eaten the Chicken Fajita MRE and I think you're underestimating them' he commented.

'Indeed' Teal'c concurred with considerable feeling on the matter.

**Valley – P2X-005 – February 2003**

'Yes Jonas' O'Neill agreed, 'this is definitely more interesting than Carter wanting to look at gas' he said, looking at the crashed alien spacecraft.

'I thought you liked astronomy Sir?' Major Carter responded as she followed the other two down the slope towards the unknown ship. Jonas and Teal'c had found it first and the Jaffa was already down by the ship.

'Stars and planets I like' O'Neill replied, 'even the occasional comet' he continued. 'Nebulas and the like not so much' he said.

'You know Sir when the local sun sets and it gets dark, you can actually see a luminous layer of ionised gas around the dying core expanding' Carter told him.

'Fascinating' O'Neill replied. 'Oh that landing had to hurt' he observed, looking at the furrow the ship had ploughed into the ground when it came down. 'So what do you have here Teal'c?' he asked when they arrived at the ship.

'I am unfamiliar with this type of vessel, O'Neill. It is not Goa'uld' the Jaffa replied, looking it over.

'It's not Asgard or Tollan either' Carter added.

'Sectoid?' O'Neill queried. 'Aschen maybe?' he asked.

'I can't see any similarities with Loki's technology and we're too far out from the Aschen Confederation given the limitations of their hyperdrive' Carter replied. 'And the design aesthetic is all wrong in any case' she continued. 'I guess we've found a new star-faring society.'

'The crash is certainly recent O'Neill judging by the lack of weathering on the impact damage' Teal'c announced. 'We should be cautious' he advised.

Jonas was looking over the hull. 'Some of these markings resemble ancient Celtic Scripts' he told the others.

Carter moved to an open hatch. 'Hello' she called inside. 'Looks like there were no survivors' she said.

'Actually there were three of us' a strangers voice announced causing them to spin around finding a man with his hands tied behind his back. 'Your friend already shot the other two' he continued in an annoyed tone.

'Sergeant' O'Neill greeted the woman standing behind the stranger with her rifle pointed at his back. 'I was wondering where you'd gone' he told her. 'You shot them?' he asked disparagingly.

'I only stunned them Colonel' Andianov replied, 'the woman and the other man in the group reached for their weapons when I ran into them to the North East whilst scouting' she explained. 'This one had the sense to drop his own weapon when his friends hit the ground twitching and I told him to' she said with obvious smugness.

'So how did he get the obvious limp and the bruise on his face?' O'Neill asked.

'I needed him docile as well as conscious' Andianov replied. 'It made tying him up easier.'

'_First_ Contact isn't ideally _full_ contact but it'll have to do under the circumstances' O'Neill told the injured stranger. 'Jonas you're on' he told him.

Jonas sighed. 'Okay so this might not sound too convincing under the circumstances but we're peaceful explorers, okay?' he began. 'We didn't come here to harm anybody' he told the stranger.

'Pender and Reynard looked pretty harmed to me' the stranger replied with a scowl.

'Guessing those are your friends they'll be fine' O'Neill told him. 'First time you get zatted can be a doozy, you're out for a while and you might wake up temporarily blind' he continued. 'But there isn't any long-term damage and I've been zatted plenty myself' he told the man. 'You even build up a resistance to it after the first few times.'

'All X-COM field personnel moved to the SGC are hit several times with a zat'nik'tel discharge over a period of days before being cleared for off-world duty for that reason' Andianov chipped in.

'Oh, I thought that was just some twisted hazing thing you did?' Carter told her.

'It was at first' the Sergeant admitted, in the old days they used to do it with a stun rod.

'So who are you anyway?' O'Neill asked the man. 'I'm guessing this is your ship?' he checked.

'I'm Aden Corso, Captain of the _Seberus_. My first officer, Tanis Reynard, and navigator Lyle Pender are the ones lying on the ground back there somewhere' he said.

'Colonel Jack O'Neill' he introduced himself. 'This is Teal'c, Major Carter, Jonas Quinn and you've already become acquainted with Sergeant Andianov' he said. 'We're from a planet called Earth' he told him.

'Never heard of it' Corso replied.

'You might know it as Midgard, maybe Terra' Jonas suggested. 'The Goa'uld call people from Earth the Tau'ri' he said.

Corso raised his eyebrows. 'We know the Goa'uld' he said. 'We defeated them and drove them from our homeworld Hebridan centuries ago' he replied.

'You're kidding, you beat the Goa'uld?' O'Neill responded in surprise.

'Their ships couldn't match ours in space' Corso told him.

'They seem to be better at the landing thing though' O'Neill couldn't help but observe.

Coso glared at O'Neill. 'We were on our way to relieve an off-world mineral extraction team when an asteroid storm blew us right off course' he said. 'The fuel line got messed up in the crash and all the reserves leaked out before we knew what was happening' he explained.

'Bummer' O'Neill replied.

'You wouldn't happen to have a whole load of extra fuel in your ship, would you?' Corso asked hopefully. 'It might make up a little for the fact you people shot my crew' he continued. 'I think the engines are okay, we just don't have enough power in the batteries to fire them up to check. All we have access to are a few auxiliary systems' he told them. 'The storm fried our communications so we couldn't signal for help either.'

Carter looked to O'Neill who shrugged. 'We didn't come by ship we arrived via the stargate' she told Corso. 'The chappa'ai' she added seeing that he obviously didn't recognise the term.

'No idea what you're talking about' Corso replied.

O'Neill pointed west. 'Big O? Decent walk that way' he told him.

Corso raised his eyebrows. 'We didn't know what that was' he admitted.

'It's a transportation device' Carter explained.

'I take it you don't have one where you come from?' Jonas asked.

'Not that I know of' Corso replied. 'Really, no ship?' he asked doubtfully.

'No ship' O'Neill confirmed. 'Well we have ships we just don't usually use them to travel to worlds where there's already a stargate' he said. 'Saves on the crashing and expensive repairs.'

Corso had been occasionally straining against his bonds but was getting nowhere and decided to go along with the situation. 'How does this stargate work exactly?' he asked curiously.

'Well basically it opens a wormhole between worlds' Carter told him. 'Each gate has an address based on its home planet's point in space and there are thousands of stargates throughout the galaxy, just dial the planet you want to travel to and walk through, easy as that.'

'Jonas cut him free and give him the cliffs notes story of the galaxy' O'Neill interrupted, 'Carter Teal'c with me over here, Sergeant... don't shoot him unless you have to' he ordered, stepping away from Corso and the crashed ship as Jonas took out his utility knife to cut the mans bonds.

Carter and Teal'c joined O'Neill. 'What are you thinking Sir?' Carter asked quietly.

'Well for a start we should probably collect his buddies and dust them off, after that have you got any suggestions?' O'Neill asked.

'We could offer them sanctuary on Earth' Teal'c replied.

'Or, we could fix their ship' Carter countered. 'I'm just saying it's possible. If all they need is fuel, then maybe we can find an Earth equivalent. I may be able to recharge their batteries using a naqahdah generator. I'd have to take a look at their technology.'

'If Andianov had given them the chance to get a shot off we could have declared them hostile and carted it back home in pieces' O'Neill said regretfully then blinked. 'Dammit I've been spending too much time with her again, the steal any technology not bolted down philosophy rubs off on you' he moaned.

'If their ships are more advanced than those of the Goa'uld an insight into their vessel would be extremely valuable O'Neill' Teal'c observed.

'And helping them get back home would probably go a long way towards developing friendly relations with their government' Carter added. 'Another advanced human civilisation that already has a healthy dislike of the Goa'uld has got to be worth contacting Sir' she advised O'Neill.

O'Neill nodded thoughtfully. 'Well it says something for their judgement of character at least' he replied. 'Okay Captain Corso' he addressed him loudly. 'We've decided to help you folks out' he said. 'Teal'c Jonas and the Sergeant will fetch your friends and meanwhile you can give Major Carter here a look-see at your ship so she can figure out if we can help fix it' he continued. 'Worst case scenario we head back to Earth and maybe fly you back home from there in one of our own ships' he told him. The Redemption should be able to get them home soon enough he thought, or even an Avenger if they didn't mind flying coach and sitting on bench seats for a few thousand light-years.

Corso rubbed his wrists and wished he hadn't tried so hard to free himself before. 'So do my crew get an apology for being shot too?' he asked sardonically.

'When they wake up I'll get the Sergeant to say sorry' O'Neill told him.

'Maybe she could kiss these better too' Corso suggested, holding up his hands to show the raw marks on his wrists then indicated the bruise on his face for good measure.

'Probably better not let her get the taste of blood' O'Neill replied wryly. 'What's up T?' he asked the Jaffa who was now staring into the nearby forest with a frown.

'I am not sure O'Neill' Teal'c replied. 'I get the feeling we are being watched' he said.

'Could it be his friends awake already?' O'Neill asked.

'Perhaps' Teal'c replied. 'A zat'nik'tel discharge may not be as long-lasted if their internal physiology is much different than that of a regular Tau'ri' he suggested.

'I took all their weapons Colonel' Andianov told him, they were tied to her back-pack. 'I also bound them securely with cord' she noted.

'Guessing she was a good attentive member of the Young Pioneers and knows how to tie a decent knot maybe it's not them' O'Neill replied, Teal'c had good instincts and if he thought they were being watched he was willing to bet the house they were. 'Carter you got a Motion Scanner on you?' he asked.

'Yes Sir' she confirmed. 'In my pack' she told him.

'Fish it out slowly and take a look' O'Neill ordered.

'Motion Scanner?' Corso queried.

'Does exactly what it says' O'Neill responded. 'Now I want the truth is there anybody else out there?' he checked. 'Was it really just the three of you?' he asked seriously. 'If we get into a firefight I can't guarantee it'll just be people getting stunned' he told him.

Carter bought up the Motion Scanner and slowly turned around. 'I've got two weak contacts, hard to get an accurate track they must be moving slowly' she announced.

'It could be them' Corso said quietly.

'_Who_, them?' O'Neill asked curtly.

'These things, aliens, they've been hunting us since we arrived' Corso replied. 'They killed some of my crew, took their weapons but we haven't seen them in days' he said. 'Maybe they came through your stargate?' he suggested.

'And you're just mentioning this now' O'Neill asked incredulously.

'They're dangerous Colonel' Corso told him. 'If you see them shoot on sight' he advised.

O'Neill took a breath. 'Sorry Captain but right now your credibility isn't so good' he replied, there was something off about the man and O'Neill usually trusted his own instincts as well as those of Teal'c. 'Jonas, can you check his story please?'

'Check his story?' Jonas queried.

'Voodoo time, put the whammy on him' O'Neill explained. 'Psi-Amp him I mean.'

'Is that necessary?' Jonas asked. 'I mean I'm not supposed to do that unless the situation warrants it' he said. 'It's an invasion of privacy.'

'He's an alien, the rules back home don't apply' O'Neill told him.

'I'm an alien too from your perspective' Jonas pointed out, 'does that mean that me or Teal'c don't have rights either?' he asked.

'I _trust_ you and Teal'c' O'Neill replied. 'Look, both you and Corso here can put in a written complaint to General Hammond later if you want but right now just take a look in his head before I tell Teal'c and the Sergeant to light up the forest.'

'Take a look in my head?' Corso asked in confusion.

'Psionics, artificial telepathy' Jonas explained, unhooking the Psi-Amp he always carried from his belt. 'I can read your thoughts with this device, don't worry I'll just check the surface I won't probe your mind too deeply' he said apologetically.

Corso looked alarmed. 'Read my thoughts?' he asked in horror. 'I don't want someone reading my thoughts' he declared.

'If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear' O'Neill told him. 'Well I've developed this nagging fear of being make to sing other songs from West Side Story but that's just my cross to bear' he added.

'You've got no right to do this' Corso insisted, his alarm increasing as Jonas started to adjust the settings on the device.

'Get a grip' O'Neill told him. 'You were telling us the truth weren't you?' he asked, bringing up his rifle so that although it wasn't pointed at him it wouldn't take much of an effort to do so and fire. 'Sergeant, Teal'c keep watching the trees and Carter keep an eye on that Motion Scanner' he ordered. 'I've got our guest here' he said.

Corso suddenly struck out towards Jonas, attempting to knock the device from his hand. Jonas stepped back to avoid him just as O'Neill levelled his rifle, Corso freezing again as he did so. 'Try that again and I'll shoot you' O'Neill told Corso coldly. 'Not a nice zat blast, I'll burn a hole in you, somewhere painful so you're screaming but still conscious so Jonas can check your story' he said. 'If it turns out you're telling the truth we can fix the damage back home' he told him. 'Jonas, do it' he ordered.

Jonas activated the Psionic Amplifier and looked into Corso's mind, moving past the panic to see what was in there, after a few seconds his expression became one of annoyance. 'Stun him' he told O'Neill who did so immediately, the zat built into his L2-A2 Laser Rifle dropping Corso instantly.

'What's going on Jonas?' O'Neill asked.

'He's a prisoner, this is a prison transport, the three of them escaped when it crashed' Jonas said. 'If you'll excuse me I think the people out there are the guards, they're aliens, I mean non-human, but they're the good guys which is why Corso was hoping we'd shoot at them' he said, starting to walk towards the forest. 'We know who you are' he called out. 'We've got your prisoners, they're stunned and you can have them back' he said. 'We can help you fix your ship too' he continued. 'We can get you home and we want to be friends' he declared, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

A figure, clearly alien in appearance came into view. 'I am Warrick, Captain of the Seberus' he announced nervously, if he hadn't already witnessed these strangers shoot one of the escaped convicts he wouldn't have revealed himself.

'Very glad to meet you Captain Warrick' Jonas replied with a smile. 'I'm afraid we've never met someone from your species before' he said.

'I am Serrakin, from the planet Hebridan' Warrick replied, the two approaching each other.

'Hebridan?' Jonas repeated. 'Like the human prisoners?'

'We are an integrated society of both races' Warrick replied. 'My people freed the humans of Hebridan from the Goa'uld who enslaved them' he said.

'The Goa'uld are our enemies too' Jonas told him.

Warrick thought about that. 'Well between that and shooting Aden Corso there, so far you people are showing themselves to be very good judges of character' he told him.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – February 2003**

General Hammond looked across his desk at Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. 'There's no need to keep asking Major' he said. 'I've already decided that SG-1 will rendezvous with the _Prometheus_ before it makes its detour to Hebridan to establish formal contact with their government' he told her. 'You will be escorting Doctor Weir who will be heading up the mission personally.'

Carter smiled. 'Glad to hear it Sir' she replied.

'The Major just wants to take another look at their technology' O'Neill observed. 'You should have seen her help Warrick fix that ship' he continued, 'kid in a candy store' he said with a grin.

'Sir the Hebridan sub-light drive is overall the best we've ever seen, far better than Goa'uld designs and unlike Loki's engines they don't need esoteric fuel to run on' Carter responded. 'I don't know how they managed to get that much raw thrust when required out of such a fuel-efficient ion propulsion system but they have.'

'Not to mention that the ship was only an old transport' O'Neill added, 'their military engines are even better apparently' he said. 'They knew the Goa'uld might show up again one day so they've maintained a decent Navy and have the economy to afford it.'

Carter chuckled. 'From what we can tell Hebridan is culturally not too dissimilar from the United States, or Western Europe for example' she said. 'They're a highly industrialised, capitalist democracy with several large competing corporations and a free press' she told Hammond. 'Frankly given they're hundreds of years more advanced than we are with a large population as well Jonas argues they've got an almost frightening war-fighting potential' she continued. 'If Hebridan went to war in earnest it would be like the United States entering World War Two' she said, 're-tool the factories making civilian cars into making tanks instead and they'll bury you in logistics.'

'Except that cars on Hebridan fly and they'd be churning out aerospace fighters by the thousands instead' O'Neill observed.

'Technologically they're still centuries behind the Tollan in most fields, and the Aschen to a lesser degree' Carter noted, 'but they're still represent an incredible potential as a future ally or even a trading partner.'

'If we're lucky we might be able to _buy_ technology off them Sir' O'Neill told Hammond. 'We've got plenty of alien gadgetry they might like a piece of.'

'Colonel I liked the sound of them as soon as I heard "they beat the Goa'uld" you're selling what's already been sold' Hammond told him in amusement. 'We helped drag the Tollan out of isolationism by roping them into a trading relationship with ourselves and a few other advanced societies like the Aschen and Orbanians so adding the Hebridan in too should be doable' he said. 'Prometheus is due to arrive at P5S-381 next week so perhaps we can get the Gadmeer involved in galactic affairs too.'

'I hope so Sir' Carter told him. 'When you add the Asgard into the mix it's starting to look like we're putting together the right allies.'

Hammond's smile broadened. 'You missed something while you were away' he told them. 'Thor visited on a mission for the Asgard High Council' he told them.

'Sorry I missed him' O'Neill replied honestly, he liked Thor. 'What did they want?' he asked.

'They didn't want anything from us' Hammond replied. 'They were repaying a debt' he told him. 'Or at least that's how they see it.'

'The fifty bucks I bet him that we wouldn't get off Halla alive?' O'Neill queried.

Hammond looked at him strangely then shook his head. 'No Colonel though it did involve your mission to Halla in the Asgard home galaxy' he said. 'The Asgard must have thought they owed us something for that.'

'Saving their entire galaxy and civilisation from the Replicators?' O'Neill replied. 'Well I was hoping for more than just a hearty handshake in return but there you go' he said with a shrug. 'Come to think of it Asgard handshakes aren't even all that hearty' he continued. 'Not much of a grip' he observed.

'Their grip on science is deeply impressive however' Hammond told him. 'The Asgard have finished back-engineering the technology from Loki's Foo Fighter and have given us the plans and explained the scientific principles behind them' he said.

'They have?' Carter replied in astonishment, 'what about the Protected Planets Treaty?' she asked. 'The Goa'uld would know that was far beyond our ability to do ourselves.'

'I think given the state of the galaxy and the fact they recognised what Earth did for them the Asgard have decided to say screw the treaty' Hammond replied. 'Anubis already broke it anyway and with Loki being a rogue of their own race that would have helped swing opinion in our favour I'm sure.'

O'Neill nodded, the Asgard were an interesting mix of honour and pragmatism. 'So what did we get?' he asked.

Hammond opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a file which he opened. 'A new type of shield which the Asgard call "Electro-Plasmic" that is thirty-three percent stronger than the type already fitted to our F-302 fighters for the same power-input' he began. 'Like the earlier type of Sectoid shield it needed modifications and the addition of Asgard technology to work inside an atmosphere but they've done that for us' he said.

'Cool' O'Neill responded.

'That's just the start Colonel, it gets better' Hammond told him. 'As you know our fighters have always suffered from inferior manoeuvrability to Loki's at high speed' he said. 'This was because of something called Vector Control Thrusters they had, a refinement of gravity engine technology, well we've got them now too' he said.

'I'd love to see the schematics on those Sir' Carter told General Hammond eagerly.

'The Asgard provided a prototype unit which is at Area 51 right now under study you can see the device in the flesh later today Major, in fact I hoped you would' Hammond replied.

'Anything else Sir?' O'Neill asked.

'A whole new sensor package called an "Emissions Targeting System" that gives far greater effective range and is much harder to jam than anything we've had before' Hammond replied, reading down the list. 'We'll be able to get a missile lock on Loki's fighters for the first time, all we need now is a missile that can turn fast enough not to be avoided by them.'

'Perhaps we could adapt the new Vector Control Thruster technology to do that?' Carter suggested.

'Which is precisely why I wanted you to take a look at it' Hammond told her. 'We've also got a new engine you might be interested in' he added.

'The Gravity/Induction Drive?' Carter said wondrously. 'We never got anywhere with it, it was too advanced' she said. 'It gives twice the effective thrust of the engines we have on the F-302 now' she told O'Neill.

'How does it rank against the Hebridan engines?' O'Neill queried.

'It's more powerful, the drawback is that it has less endurance and runs on elerium' Carter told him. 'We'll certainly never put them on larger ships, it would use up our entire fuel reserves in days if we had to burn E115 to push capital ships around' she told them regretfully. 'We use goa'uld engine designs on the Avenger and X-303 for precisely that reason, naquada might not be as good at pushing ships around space but we've got plenty of it' she said.

'Okay so what about guns?' O'Neill asked. 'Please tell me we've gotten better guns out of this too' he asked hopefully.

General Hammond sighed. 'The Asgard have given us the rapid-fire plasma pulse cannon carried by Loki's fighters Colonel but unfortunately on closer examination it's not considered superior enough to our own lasers to bring it into general service as a anti-fighter weapon given that again it needs elerium to function' he told him. 'I'm told some aspects of the design will allow us to improve our existing Plasma Beam Cannon to make them more efficient in terms of power-consumption however' he noted.

'Okay so our guys have to use the lasers on the small try but the bean counters still don't mind us using elerium on the big fish then Sir?' O'Neill asked.

'Sectoid battleships or Al'kesh are considered a little too much ship for our F-302's to handle unless they're using Plasma Beams' Hammond replied. 'Of course it is recommended to use cheap and disposable nuclear weapons whenever possible instead.'

'We've _got_ to find out how Loki makes that damn stuff' O'Neill muttered, Elerium 115 powered weapons and engines were so much more powerful for their size than everything else, it was the edge that might save Earth from the Goa'uld and at the very least it was going to surprise the hell out of the System Lords when they found out just how much faster and harder-hitting Tau'ri fighters were than Death Gliders.

'That unfortunately is something the Asgard still can't figure out' Hammond observed sadly.

'Anything new happening on the Sectoid War front Sir?' Carter asked Hammond.

Hammond sighed again. 'Losses among X-COM UFO Retrieval Teams dropped after they adopted different tactics in order to deal with the new Guided Missile Launchers Loki's Troops are carrying now but they're still unacceptably high' he said. 'Well unacceptably high to anyone but X-COM anyway' he continued. 'Given that the launchers seem to need some time to program, fire and then reload the teams now storm through as fast as possible rather than clearing the UFO out methodically' he told them. 'They're taking more casualties doing it that way but it's an increase in those getting taken out by plasma fire during short, vicious engagements versus a reduction in fatalities caused by getting blown to smithereens by nuclear weaponry.'

'Better to get killed or wounded the old fashioned way' O'Neill replied with a shrug. Unless you had your head blown they could always stick you in a sarcophagus, ending up as blasted radioactive debris was far more permanent. X-COM and the SGC were the first military organisations that actually had _grades_ of being killed in action, being KIA wasn't necessarily a permanent state of affairs in this war, as long as you were still sufficiently intact physically you would often be back in the fight for the next mission your team went on. Of course it still all hurt quite a lot and even if your "soul" survived repeated spells in the sarcophagus your general sanity wasn't going to be helped much by being killed over and over again and being resurrected in an altogether too coffin-like box.

'We live in rapidly changing times Colonel' Hammond replied, 'it wouldn't have been too many years ago when getting blasted by alien plasma weapons wouldn't have been thought of as an old-fashioned way to die' he said.

O'Neill nodded. 'Makes you wonder what they'll be shooting at us with next' he remarked.

'I dread to think' Hammond replied, 'but just as long as we survive long enough to get to shoot back at them with the same thing I guess it doesn't matter' he said.

'I think I'll drop in on the team working on the new launcher when I go to Area 51 later' Carter said, 'check how we're doing on the shooting back part' she told them.

'You do that' O'Neill replied. 'If you think threatening them would speed things up bring Teal'c or Andianov along' he advised.

Hammond looked at him. 'I'll pretend I didn't hear that' he responded. 'Dismissed' he told them.

As they left his office and headed down the corridor O'Neill turned to Carter. 'You know he didn't actually say _not_ to do it' he pointed out.

Carter thought about that. 'I'll bring Andianov' she said eventually. 'Teal'c has plans.'

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_P3X-367__ was the planet where Nirrti was experimenting on people using a piece of ancient technology that re-arranged your DNA. In the show she was free at this point (episode 6:16 __Metamorphosis__) and used it on Jonas but here she's on Earth working for X-COM (unwillingly) and the device is simply idle on one of her old worlds. I'm theorising she had found it there fairly recently because if she had the thing earlier in the series timeline she wouldn't have been wasting time experimenting on the people on Hanka or been quite so interested in Cassandra's DNA. Having the Canadian Sharp made a __Commander of the Order of Military Merit__ seemed something which might occur given the difficulty of awarding normal decorations to X-COM personnel. Given the casualty rates and vicious fighting of the early years of the First Alien War you could probably pin the Victoria Cross, Congressional Medal of Honour, Légion d'honneur or the like on a good proportion of X-COM with some justification but you could never do so publically. The OMM would be presented by the Governor-General at their official residence of Quebec City by the way, in Britain itself, or most Commonwealth Countries, someone in Sharp's position might well really have been knighted by now (although the reason obscured) but the Canadians don't do that by tradition._

_The presence of Andianov, and Jonas having a Psionic Amplifier, changes the events of episode 6:18 __Forsaken__ somewhat. __Hebridan__ was an advanced world with both a human and __Serrakin__ population and they were apparently more advanced militarily than the Goa'uld (although the Ori later conquered them). Given that the escaped prisoners __Aden Corso__, __Tanis Reynard__ and __Lyle Pender__ didn't seem to know what the stargate was and __Warrick__ didn't use it to get home to fetch help either I'm going with the idea that Hebridan didn't have a stargate of its own and they were at this point entirely reliant on spaceships for interstellar travel (this could of course help explain why they had such good ships). __My reasoning for people gradually getting adjusted to being hit by zat blasts is how much less effective they seemed to be on SG-1 as the series went on. X-COM deliberately building up a semi-immunity to the things by zapping rookies with them until they handle the effects better seems their kind of thing._

_The Hebridan Ion Propulsion seemed to greatly impress Carter who was already familiar with Goa'uld sub-light engines so given that I'm going with the idea that Hebridan ships have much better propulsion systems than the System Lords have in service. The Asgard provided Earth with some of their technology in episode 6:17 __Disclosure__. Here instead of them equipping Asgard shields on Prometheus in thanks for the SGC's help in dealing with the Replicators they're providing other technical assistance. The Type 1 Alien fighter from X-COM: Interceptor (called a Foo-Fighter here) had various high-tech advancements over the earlier alien craft (drives, shields, sensors and weapons). Given that it was originally encountered in the 2060's by the X-COM Timeline I just didn't think it was reasonable for Earth to have been able to quickly back-engineer it over half a century earlier, so despite the fact they've had one for some time now it's taken the Asgard to figure it out for them._


	39. Chapter 39

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – February 2003**

Judging from the fact he was so agitated he was practically bouncing up and down Jonas was either very excited, needed to cut down on the coffee, or else he had forgotten where the bathroom was on this level of the base. Given the man's near-perfect recall O'Neill discounted the bathroom thing as an option. 'What is it Jonas?' he asked with a sigh, hoping it was going to be quick because he had a date with a lunch tray and it was Salisbury Steak today in the canteen.

'Cassie' Jonas blurted out, 'I mean me and Cassandra, we've been spending some time together and...'

O'Neill narrowed his eyes, it didn't seem likely but if the next sentence Jonas said included the word "pregnant" the Kelownan was shortly going to be picking his teeth off the floor. 'And _what_?' he asked suspiciously.

'Well it's about Daniel's ascension' Jonas told him. 'Sort of' he added.

Okay this sounded less likely to end in violence O'Neill decided with relief. 'What about Danny?' he asked. 'And where do you and Cassie come into this?' he asked in confusion.

Jonas took a deep breath. 'Well it's like this Colonel' he began, 'as you know the X-COM psionics people dragged me into their research into Cassandra's abilities because I'm the best subject for mental sparring available' he said.

'She's way stronger than you but you're still the best psi-guy around otherwise' O'Neill interrupted. 'I _know_ this Jonas' he stated.

'Right' Jonas replied, 'so part of the last session involved Cassandra trying to selectively pull information from my mind in a more direct manner, trying to work like a high-powered version of the mind-probe device' he said. 'They wanted subjects, or topics, that provoked certain emotional reactions to see what difference it made to the outcome, fear or anger for example, so we worked our way through a few scenarios until we came to guilt' he told him.

'Guilt?' O'Neill queried.

'Yes, each emotion causes a slightly different reaction in certain areas of the brain and guilt is supposed to be interesting because of the way it triggers memories' Jonas explained. 'So when it came to guilt we needed a focal point so I decided that thinking about Doctor Jackson would get the right synapses firing' he said.

O'Neill nodded his understanding. 'Still harbouring some remorse there then I guess?' he asked rhetorically. 'You know you've more than redeemed yourself for anything you did, or didn't do, regarding Danny since you joined the SGC' he told Jonas sincerely. 'Hell you've died for the cause, only temporarily but you did die' he said, 'hard to top that in the earning redemption stakes.'

'I'd like to think so' Jonas responded, 'anyhow like I said I was thinking about Doctor Jackson and then Cassandra started probing my mind telepathically, looking to see what information she could pull out' he continued. 'That's when she made a connection in her mind, I mean she learned something through me that she didn't know, and that added to her own memories filled in an important gap.'

'Can we cut to the chase, or else continue this at the canteen?' O'Neill asked hopefully.

'Colonel this is important' Jonas told him with an unusual intensity in his voice. 'You know I've read all of Doctor Jackson's notes, and his work diaries' he said. 'Well among those there were entries regarding the false memories Shifu, the Harcesis child, placed in his mind.'

'Absolute power corrupts absolutely as they say' O'Neill quoted. 'Good object lesson I thought at the time when he told me about it but I still wish sometimes those satellite things were for real not just a figment of his imagination' he said regretfully.

'That's just it Colonel' Jonas replied in earnest, 'I don't think that it _was_ just imagination' he said, 'I think that Shifu didn't make it all up, he was using actual ascended knowledge.'

O'Neill blinked. 'Say what?' he asked.

Jonas looked serious. 'In the fantasy reality Shifu placed in Doctor Jackson's mind Earth made defence satellites, extremely powerful energy weapons that could shred a Goa'uld Hat'ak' he said. 'They weren't like the typical plasma-pulse weapons the System Lords normally use, they were beams, presumably making them far better able to cut through shields' he said.

'Same as how our Elerium Plasma Beams really do a number on them' O'Neill replied, what was that analogy Carter liked to use, he recalled, an ice-pick not a blunt object, concentrate your firepower at a single point and burn through instead of trying to batter them down.

'Right, we know the Goa'uld have got small-scale beams, like the Za'tarc weapon, but according to the Tok'ra they ran into problems scaling them up' Jonas noted.

'Probably copied a little Ancient gun they found and they don't know enough about how it really works to make a big one' O'Neill observed, the Goa'uld were okay at making crude monkey-model copies but innovation, or even improvement of technology, wasn't exactly their strong suit. 'Still waiting for the punch-line here Jonas' he told him.

This time Jonas grinned. 'The punch-line Colonel is that probably by accident we may now have a way to make the beam-weapons from Doctor Jackson's fantasy reality' he said.

'To repeat myself earlier' O'Neill replied. 'Say what?'

Still grinning Jonas crossed his arms. 'When Cassie was looking into my mind I was thinking about Daniel, trying to stir up that element of guilt the scientists monitoring us were after, this meant that the memories at the forefront of my mind she was reading concerned him and after a while one of those was about Shifu' he said. 'I was just sitting there when Cassandra suddenly yells out "AG-3 powered by heavy liquid naquada" and looked like she was going to jump out of her chair.'

O'Neill raised his eyebrows. 'More explanation needed' he said flatly.

'In Daniel Jackson's fantasy the power-source that made the defence satellites work was something called heavy liquid naquada' Jonas told him, 'and the satellites themselves were called AG-3, maybe AG-1 and 2 were prototypes or something' he wondered, 'but in any case that was in his diary and the point is Cassie didn't know that.'

'She read it out of your mind' O'Neill replied.

'No' Jonas replied, 'well yes, but the weird thing was she already knew the phrase' he said. 'It must have been buried in the back of her mind and when she was reminded of it everything came flooding back' he said, uncrossing his arms again and starting to wave them about. 'Right at the moment Doctor Jackson ascended we think he sent her a message, something that only a telepath might pick up.'

'About a weapon from his dream' O'Neill queried. 'I'd have gone with tell everyone goodbye myself' he said.

'He was trying to help us, maybe he had to do so in a roundabout way because of some Ascended being rules and he thought this was a way around them or something' Jonas theorised, 'the point is that maybe it wasn't just fantasy, maybe Shifu used real science but because we still didn't have the resources needed it didn't matter' he said. 'Okay, we know that liquid naquada is an allotrope of regular naquada' he reminded the Colonel.

'Little bucky-balls that flow like a liquid' O'Neill replied, Carter had once shown him a picture after failing to explain the idea verbally, Elerium was the third allotrope of the trio.

'Yes' Jonas confirmed, 'at the time Shifu was here Earth didn't know that naquada also had a heavier isotope so it didn't matter if he told us something he shouldn't.'

'Naquadria' O'Neill interjected then his eyes widened. 'Oh I see where this is going' he declared. 'Make the liquid allotrope out of the naquadria isotope instead of the regular stuff' he realised.

'Heavy liquid naquada' Jonas agreed with a grin, 'or as _we_ would call it _liquid naquadria_!' he exclaimed excitedly.

O'Neill laughed. 'The Harcesis knew everything the Goa'uld knew, and I'll bet that Ascended chick Oma told him even more stuff, but when you get right down to it he was still just a kid and made a rookie mistake' he reasoned. 'Like you said why _not_ tell us what you could do with naquadria when we didn't _have_ any anyway?'

'But now you do' Jonas replied. 'Doctor Jackson must have discovered this when he ascended and left us a hidden clue' he said. 'The sheer instability of naquadria means you wouldn't want to mount a beam powered that way on a ship because there would be a good chance it could blow up every time you fired, and the probability of overload would go up every shot, but for unmanned satellites in space used as a last-ditch defence it wouldn't matter so much' he continued. 'Even if a few failed with the first firing attempt and the others only get off a handful of shots before they explode they might still take out a small fleet of Ha'taks before they're all gone.'

'I'll take some EMP screwing up the cell-phone network when the satellites go boom in orbit over a Goa'uld bombardment from space any day' O'Neill responded sagely. 'Have you run this by Carter?' he asked.

'Yes, I went to her first, she's already talking to Area 51 about it' Jonas replied. 'We already know a lot about Plasma Beam weaponry thanks to Loki, this is basically tying together several known fields of research' he said. 'X-COM are already on the verge of deploying orbital lasers based on their free-electron designs so the targeting and control systems are practically off-the-shelf.'

'Jumping the gun a little aren't we Jonas?' O'Neill asked rhetorically. 'I mean this is still a whole new technology isn't it?'

'Maybe a little' Jonas conceded, 'but if Doctor Jackson thought it was worth telling us maybe it's not too far away from being something we can actually deploy' he said. 'Add in the Heavy Ion Cannon the Tollan are going to supply to defend key installations, and the existing Orbital Weapon Programs, and even a combined fleet from several System Lords wouldn't want to risk an attack' he suggested.

'Sounds too good to be true' O'Neill commented.

'Yeah well it would probably be a bit expensive' Jonas admitted.

'Care to put a price-tag on that?' O'Neill asked. 'Tens of millions?' he queried, 'Hundreds of millions?'

'Tens of billions I'd think' Jonas replied apologetically, 'not including start-up costs and R&D' he continued. 'This planet only started producing ordinary liquid naquada in quantity in the last year or so and that was with help from the Tok'ra' he said. 'We know how touchy naquadria is so the existing industrial process would need serious modification to allow for that.'

O'Neill grimaced. 'Ouch regarding the money and double-ouch regarding a naquadria plant doing a Chernobyl.'

'I think the latter would be worth at least three of those' Jonas replied. 'Give or take a couple of orders of magnitude' he joked. 'Think your Government would be willing to throw that much money at this?' he asked curiously.

'It'll be covering up that much expenditure that would be the problem' O'Neill replied. 'It's already difficult enough to cover up the SGC and X-COM' he said. 'Maybe if there was a major war on we could hide the program within the spending there.'

'Maybe you should just invade someone?' Jonas suggested, tongue-in-cheek.

'I'll get General Hammond to run it past the President' O'Neill replied in amusement.

Meanwhile in an artificial construct of a Diner on the higher planes of existence the ascended being known as Daniel Jackson was being told in no uncertain terms by Oma Desala that the others were _extremely_ annoyed at him and if he thought he was going to get a second portion of pie while he had that smug expression on his face he had another thing coming.

**NID Safehouse – North Dakota – February 2003**

Frank Simmons opened the door to enter and immediately spotting the two guards lying dead or comatose just inside he reached for the handgun concealed in his jacket.

'Naughty naughty' a woman's voice chided in an amused tone and he turned to see an attractive blond woman in an expensive and flowing designer dress pointing a zat'nik'tel at him. 'They aren't dead, merely stunned' she told him. 'Good minions are hard to find on this world so I thought it only civilised not to rob you of yours' she said.

'Sarah Gardner' Simmons responded, taking his hand away from his automatic. 'Or should I say Osiris?' he asked rhetorically.

The woman's eyes flashed. 'You should' Osiris replied. 'Please step inside and close the door' she told him. 'We have a few things to talk about' she said.

Simmons did as he was told and stepping over the prone form of the two NID agents on the floor he approached the goa'uld. 'I heard through the grapevine that you were on the loose' he said. 'The rumours say Loki was thought to be involved?' he added quizzically.

'Ah yes my new sponsor' Osiris confirmed, 'he gave me an employment offer I couldn't refuse' she said with a chuckle. 'Which is of course why I'm here' she continued. 'Loki has returned me to Earth to act as his representative on this world.'

'And is spy no doubt' Simmons observed.

'Of course' Osiris responded, 'his people are simply not well suited for infiltration' she said. 'Too lacking in initiative and intelligence generally, and far too alien in the bug-eyed monsters from outer-space sense' she noted.

'Whereas you are human in appearance and have all the knowledge of your Earth-born host to help move seamlessly in our society' Simmons replied. 'Although I am wondering why exactly you sought me out?' he queried.

Osiris laughed. 'Now don't be coy Frank' she responded, 'it didn't take too much effort to determine that it was your rogue NID element that sent the communiqué to Loki via hyperwave regarding the Kelownans' she said. 'I do hope you're not going to deny it?'

Simmons opened his mouth to do that very thing but thought better of it. 'No that was us' he confirmed.

'No doubt hoping that if Loki knew of another human world with not only a large population but even more interesting genetics he would cease his operations here' Osiris theorised.

'Yes that was the idea' Simmons told her. 'Didn't work though' he said regretfully.

'I must say I admire your ruthlessness' Osiris told him appreciatively, 'sacrificing the people of another world to protect this one.'

'X-COM is better than the SGC but even they lack the stomach to always do what's necessary for the good of this planet' Simmons stated. 'So I assume you're not here to kill me but that rather you're hoping to use me as a source of information?' he asked flatly.

'Of course' Osiris replied. 'We can be of mutual assistance to one another' she said with a smile, putting her zat'nik'tel down. 'Shall we talk in the kitchen?' she asked, 'I was making coffee when you arrived' she told him, heading that way.

Simmons considered pulling his own pistol and shooting her in the back but the goa'uld was obviously planning to put more on the table than a cup of coffee and he wanted to know what the proposal was going to be here. Ever since X-COM got involved with the SGC his faction of the NID had been increasingly sidelined and undermined in its authority and increasingly power and influence over events was always the primary goal to anyone in his position. 'White, two sugars' he told her, following on.

Osiris waited until Simmons had sat down at the kitchen table and after handing him his beverage she indicated the box next to him as she sat down herself. 'I parked a couple of blocks over and walked the rest of the way so you didn't see a strange car outside triggering all that paranoia I'm sure you people have in abundance' she said. 'I passed a little bakery on the way and picked up some doughnuts on a whim' she told him, 'help yourself' she offered, opening the box and taking one herself.

'I'm trying to lose weight' Simmons replied, ignoring the box.

'Your loss' Osiris responded, taking a bite of her doughnut, Sarah Gardner had liked these and contrary to Goa'uld disinformation quite a lot of the host remained, including dietary preferences on occasion.

Simmons idly wondered if the coffee was drugged or poisoned but eventually decided that was unlikely and took a sip from his cup, too much creamer he thought. 'So how did you get here?' he asked.

'I stole a car' Osiris replied after swallowing, 'don't worry I killed the driver and hid the body so they won't be looking for it yet' she told him, taking another bite.

'I meant in the wider sense of how did you get to this planet' Simmons responded, ignoring the utterly dispassionate way in which the goa'uld had informed him of the murder of a likely innocent human being.

'Cloaked ship' Osiris explained, 'I was dropped off in the wilderness and had to reach what passes for civilisation on foot' she complained. 'Fortunately my host has the physical appeal to make being picked up as a hitch-hiker pretty simple so I only needed to reach the nearest highway and wait for the first letch to pull over' she said.

Simmons nodded, Sarah Gardner was very attractive. 'How did you find me?' he queried.

'It's just a case of knowing the right person to mind-probe' Osiris replied, 'specifically the NID people who came to talk to me while I was incarcerated at Area 51' she said. 'They shouldn't have used their real names, I found them in the telephone book.'

'Did you kill them too?' Simmons asked.

'They suffered tragic accidents' Osiris replied with a smirk, 'but enough about my long quest to find you, lets talk about something more interesting to both of us' she said.

The NID operative pushed away his coffee. 'What do you want and what do I get in return?' he wanted to know.

Osiris nonchalantly finished her doughnut before deigning to reply, the Goa'uld making sure that he knew who was in charge here. 'Firstly I know you have access to the alien technology being stored or researched at Area 51 so I would very much like one of the Mimetic Imaging Devices used by the aliens that infiltrated the SGC in 1999 so I can move around more easily without having to switch hosts' she began.

'We can't reprogram them, you would be stuck looking like one of the SGC personnel whose image was originally copied' Simmons interrupted.

'Just get me one for someone low-ranking and obscure, preferably somebody that has died or left the SGC since then' Osiris replied. 'Loki might be able to figure out a way to change it for me in any case.'

'Stealing top-secret government property and handing it over to a hostile power is treason you know' Simmons pointed out. 'What can you possibly offer of equal value in return?' he asked.

'Goa'uld, Asgard and Sectoid technology' Osiris replied, 'the ability to go it alone without X-COM and the SGC' she continued, 'plus my friendship and that of Loki' she added.

'Friendship' Simmons repeated sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

'Think of it as having a conduit to us then' Osiris suggested. 'You scratch our backs, we'll scratch yours as they say on this primitive parasite-infested planet' she said.

For a second Simmons considered pointing out that the Goa'uld itself was a parasite and that most planets controlled by the System Lords were medieval backwaters but he restrained himself from going quite that far. 'Or I _could_ turn you in and become a hero' he said instead.

'Somehow I see you as preferring to be the man that pulled the strings from the shadows not the one in the limelight' Osiris replied.

'Fortunately we're not all showboaters with delusions of godhood' Simmons responded sardonically. It had long been apparent to him that the Goa'uld were obsessed with the trappings of power whereas it was the power itself that mattered whether or not people knew who had it. Having been recruited and trained by Harry Maybourne Simmons was perfectly aware of what really mattered, leave it to egotists like Kinsey to get the press coverage while others controlled the flow of events.

'What makes you think that it's a delusion?' Osiris asked with a wry smile.

'The number of your kind currently floating in formaldehyde at Area 51 hints at it' Simmons told her. 'So you said the Mimetic Device was your first request' he said. 'What else do you want?' he asked.

'An occasional piece of intelligence, the ability to use your contacts and resources to help aid my goals' Osiris replied, 'perhaps other trinkets from the dusty storerooms of Area 51 on occasion' she said. 'I know from my interrogation of my former interrogators that your group within the NID has been forging links with several industrial conglomerates to build a power-base outside government circles' she continued, 'I'd very much like a piece of that action' she said.

Simmons leaned forward over the table. 'High price for just a promise of goodwill and undefined offers of technology in the future' he said. 'I would want something concrete before making any kind of decision' he told her, 'for one thing I would have to convince others to go along with this.'

Osiris reached for another doughnut. 'How would you like your own spacecraft?' she asked. 'More advanced than anything X-COM or the SGC can boast' she said. 'Loki has his own hyperspace capable transport ships, add in a cloaking device and the NID can start to operate independently again.'

Frank Simmons usually had a good poker face but he raised his eyebrows at the offer. 'Elerium powered like the rest of his technology?' he asked suspiciously.

'I presume so' Osiris replied.

'Then no deal because we can't get hold of the stuff' Simmons told her.

Osiris pursed her lips. 'How many tons of elerium in advance would it take to sweeten the deal?' she asked.

'Did you say _tons_?' Simmons gasped, a few pounds of the material was priceless.

The Goa'uld smiled. 'Shall we say five as a down-payment, loaded into the cargo bay of the ship and an ongoing arrangement to provide more?' she asked. 'Maybe a few crates of Sectoid weapons and ammunition thrown in?' she suggested.

Simmons leaned back in his chair. 'Okay, I'm interested' he told her, reaching for a doughnut, he could always run it off later.

**Bedrosian/Optrican Border – P2X-416 – March 2003**

The lead elements of a full brigade of Bedrosian Air Cavalry riding armed shuttlecraft were already twenty-five miles into enemy territory and landing to secure the main road towards to regional capital before the Optrican Ground-Attack Aircraft arrived on the scene and started an abortive series of bombing and strafing runs that was soon abandoned when a squadron of Bedrosian Air-Superiority Fighters moved to counter them in turn.

The fighting at the border itself was already vicious and getting worse all the time, hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side were immersed in what Bedrosia hoped would be the knock-out blow which would finally bring its rival to its knees, and with long-range bombers from both sides starting to hit targets deep into the others territory it might only be a matter of time before conventional warfare degenerated into an exchange of battlefield nuclear weaponry or worse.

Being as much an ongoing holy war as merely a clash of nations the intermittent decades-old fighting between the two powers had often been characterised by grim determination and willingly high loss of life for little gain but this time the stakes were much higher. The Bedrosian Leadership knew it had to grind the Optricans under quickly at any cost because this could very well be the last opportunity it would ever have to beat them, although they had been telling their population that the latest propaganda broadcasts from Optrica were nothing but a pack of lies the upper echelon of the government knew better They had in fact known for a number of years now that the other side was right and that the book of Nefertum, the foundation of their belief system, was false but they had opted to keep the discovery of the gateway a state secret hoping that if the truth was buried, figuratively and literally, then it didn't really matter and that order and continuity were more important than inconvenient facts.

The only land bridge between the two warring continents was a narrow isthmus only a hundred miles wide and being heavily mined and fortified all the way across any advance along it was bound to be a hard-fought bloody slog even if things went well. This was the reason why Bedrosia had thrown its elite air-mobile units into the fray en-masse seeking to disrupt supply lines and prevent reinforcements moving to the border. Both sides used similar anti-gravity shuttlecraft for military purposes but the Optricans still lagged behind in using them effectively giving the Bedrosian High Command a tactical edge they hoped was large enough to win a quick decisive war of manoeuvre.

As the fighters duelled overhead the Bedrosian troops wondered when they too would face the enemy. The rumbling sound of distant artillery could be heard from the direction of the border as thousands of howitzers and field guns pounded each other and vapour trails in the upper atmosphere indicated that strategic bombers of both sides were heading towards their targets hundreds or thousands of miles distant.

Clutching his energy rifle in a manner reminiscent of a child and its favoured toy a young private of the 5th Bedrosian Air-Mobile Brigade watched entranced as a fighter exploded overhead. 'Think that was one of ours or one of theirs?' he asked the closest soldier who was doing likewise.

'No idea, sure was pretty though' the other soldier replied.

'The Top Brass say the campaign will be over in six weeks' the first noted. 'Think that's true?' he asked.

'My grandfather was told that during the Third Border Campaign' the other one responded, 'that one lasted eight years and a year later he was called back to fight in the Fourth Border Campaign' he noted.

'Fucking Optricans' the private swore then grinned. 'Did they really think we'd fall for that bullshit about people coming from the "other planet" they think we came from?' he asked then laughed. 'It's like a whole country full of people following some weird cult made up by a science-fiction author.'

'My Mom always said that the reason they're so damn twisted is because atheists can't be moral' the other one told him. 'If you don't have the teachings of Nefertum to guide you what's right and wrong where's your moral compass?' he asked rhetorically.

'Makes sense' the other agreed, the Book of Nefertum was the cornerstone of Bedrosian society, how the Optricans even functioned as a working civilisation without it was almost unfathomable although their heresy that Nefertum was in fact an evil monster who had enslaved their ancestors on another world and bought them here was truly sickening. Such blasphemy against the creator was proof of the righteousness of this war, they had to defeat the enemy once and for all so that another generation didn't have to share this beautiful world Nefertum had created with the wretched heathens.

'Oh oh, it's the Old Man, we'd better grab a shovel and look busy' the first soldier declared as he saw Commander Rigar approach, his limp unmistakeable as he barked out orders to his troops, berating some of them to dig-in and prepare to meet the inevitable Optrican counter-attack and praising those who had already done so. Although they did carry some heavy weapons with them in the transport shuttles they were mainly light-infantry and holding this position against more heavily armed enemy forces would be a hard-fought battle he knew.

Rigar looked around, he knew that if it wasn't for the High Command being afraid of what he knew a man with his physical injuries would never have obtained a battlefield command again. They probably hoped he would be killed in action he decided as his troops readied themselves to face the Optricans.

The disheartening thing was he knew the damn enemy were right, he even knew that the gateway which had been buried during the Great Upheaval and later dug up by a small team of archaeologists was being studied by the top scientists and engineers Bedrosia had, but nonetheless he was here fighting to maintain a lie. In his heart he didn't want to accept the truth, accept that the beliefs he had been raised with were false and that so many of his people had died for nothing, but he could never forget what he had seen no matter how much he would want to. Still a patriot he would fight for his country, and he didn't want to let down the men and women under his command, but underneath he was an empty broken shell.

He still carried his well-worn copy of the Book of Nefertum in his pack, he still pretended to offer his prayers and devotion, because it was expected of him and good for morale, but it was just a myth and instead of offering comfort it just made him want to throw up every time he heard the Brigade Chaplain talk about the rightness of their cause and how victory was certain because Nefertum was on their side.

'Sir, I think our guys have driven off the enemy aircraft' one of the NCO's called to Rigar, pointing into the sky where jet trails were now heading back towards the Optrican heartland. 'Run you bastards' he called out to them with a grin.

Rigar nodded with satisfaction, if they could maintain air-superiority then the campaign might conceivably go as well as the optimists at Military Intelligence were promising assuming of course that the Optricans didn't start throwing nukes out of desperation. He watched a Bedrosian Fighter break off pursuit of the fleeing enemy and come in low performing a stylish victory roll that had most of the brigade cheering, the cheers being instantly silenced when a bright green beam of energy neatly speared the aircraft, effortlessly overloading its shields and blowing it apart.

'What the fuck?' someone exclaimed as thousands of Bedrosian soldiers watched the beam strike out again and again, destroying fighter after fighter.

Rigar looked in the direction the beams were coming from and as a massive shape approached through the sky the beliefs of his youth came to the forefront once again. 'Nefertum protect us' he gasped as a boxy aircraft of entirely unknown configuration and perhaps two hundred yards long moved towards them firing what must be some form of plasma or particle beam from its bow.

Fighters started to engage it but their own fire splashed harmlessly on a bubble-like shield that came into view for a brief moment every time it was struck. Both the Bedrosians and Optricans had force-field technology but nothing remotely that resilient and as the huge craft continued on its way it started firing other weapons from several turrets placed along its hull, laser beams perhaps but with the kind of wattage behind them you would only expect from the most powerful of the orbiting missile-defence satellites both nations had deployed. Seemingly less overwhelmingly powerful than the mysterious green beams the lasers nonetheless packed enough of a punch to deal with the Bedrosian fighters and they started to fall in greater and greater numbers as they attempted to fight back against the floating behemoth.

'What the hell is it Sir' a junior officer called out to Rigar.

'The truth' Rigar responded quietly, the Optricans had said in their propaganda broadcasts that people from the world they said was their home had arrived in a great starship and now here it was, fighting alongside them.

Aboard the USAF _Prometheus_ Colonel Ronson watched with satisfaction as his ship knocked the Bedrosian fighters from the sky, they had given the Optrican government a Tollan built stargate only hours before the enemy attack and it's first use had been to contact the SGC and request orders as to whether or not to intervene. The reply had come quickly, drive them back to the border and if they resort to nuclear, biological or chemical attacks head straight for the nearest command bunker known to be used by the enemy and beam a naquada-enhanced warhead into it repeating this action at bunker after bunker if necessary until they declared a ceasefire.

'Sir there are Bedosian ground troops below us along with a large number of grounded shuttlecraft' Major Gant reported. 'Request permission to start taking them out' she asked.

'Hit the machinery not the men, no need to slaughter them' Ronson replied.

'Yes Sir' Gant responded and two of the underside laser turrets swung around and started taking out the landed shuttlecraft which had bought Rigar's brigade in. Firing every four seconds the laser cannon were overkill for the task, they were effective against armoured targets at over twenty kilometres and this was practically point-blank, with dozens of the shuttlecraft soon blazing wreckage, their crews and any nearby soldiers running away from them for dear life. A couple tried to take off but they barely got off the ground before they were flagged by the targeting computer on Prometheus as a priority target and taken out immediately.

With the ship now hovering directly above close enough to be in range of even their hand-weapons the Bedrosian soldiers started firing at it with their energy rifles. The act was clearly futile, the great ship did not even seem to think it was worth firing back and after the last fighter was shot down and the last shuttlecraft destroyed it simply resumed its course towards the border.

Rigar and his soldiers watched it leave, burning wreckage littered the area and thick smoke rose from the destroyed shuttlecraft as it went on its way. It had already passed out of sight when a blinding flash, heralded a Bedrosian tactical nuclear strike against Prometheus and Rigar watched a mushroom cloud rise over the horizon. The men started cheering again but they were soon cut short in their celebration by a transmission shortly afterwards that said the damn thing hadn't even been scratched and that it was now heading across the border into Bedrosian territory at high speed laying waste to anything in its path.

The order to lay down arms and surrender arrived fifteen minutes later as the Bedrosian Government agreed a ceasefire after one of its most heavily fortified installations was destroyed by a nuclear device at least ten times more powerful than anything they had ever deployed. Rigar ordered his brigade to comply then walking away out of sight put the muzzle of his service pistol in his mouth and blew his own brains out.

Three days later the brigade was back in Bedrosia under arms enforcing martial law as the government fell into collapse with the story of the discovery of the gateway and the cover-up that followed soon leaking out. Religious leaders claimed it was all a trial set by Nefertum to test their faith and denied the existence of the gateways, radical groups then soon proliferated with terrorist attacks multiplying in short order as Bedrosian society collapsed into anarchy. Within the year Optrican peacekeeping troops backed by smaller contingents from Earth, Orban, Tollan and Pangar were the only thing holding the country together and the United Worlds was considering a formal request by Optrica to annex Bedrosia outright given that it was a failed state incapable of running its own affairs and that a longer-term solution than military occupation was needed.

The large crater which had been created by the underground detonation of a 1200 megaton warhead ended up on the maps as Lake Prometheus. Jack O'Neill inquired as to the fishing, given that he suspected the radiation might lead to giant trout or whatever the local equivalent was, but the Optrican Tourist Board advised that given the ongoing chaos on that side of the old border he would be better off trying elsewhere and sent him a brochure for a very nice resort in the mountains instead.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The __AG-3 Satellite__ was shown in episode 4:17 __Absolute Power__. The power-source was given as being Heavy Liquid Naquada before the heavier isotope of naquada known as naquadria was introduced into the series in episode 5:21 __Meridian__. I just thought it was a nice touch having __Shifu__ the __Harcesis__ create a scenario based around actual science which he knew Earth couldn't actually use since they didn't have any of the required power-source._

_Frank Simmons__ was a rogue NID operative that caused a few problems for the SGC. The __Memetic Imaging Device's__ which changed your appearance to someone elses were first seen in episode 3:14 __Foothold__ and were later used by rogue NID agents to make it appear that O'Neill had tried to assassinate Kinsey in episode 6:14 __Smoke and Mirrors__ so in this scenario Simmons should have been able to get hold of them. I've got Loki using the __Spirit__ Freighter from X-COM Interceptor as his bulk transport craft. It'll be one of these that ends up being given to Simmons (as a replacement for the Al'kesh the rogue NID/Trust had in the show)._

_Commander __Rigar__ of the Bedrosian military was seen in episode 3.19 __New Ground__. The __Bedrosians__ believed that they and their world were created by the god __Nefertum__ and were in an ongoing state of conflict with another nation called the __Optricans__ who believed (rightly of course) that Nefertum had abducted and enslaved them from their original homeworld Earth. The stargate (or gateway as the locals called it) on __P2X-416__ was lost in a period of earthquakes and volcanic activity known as the Great Upheaval only being found years later. I pictured Rigar as being a highly depressed and disillusioned individual subsequent to the events of "New Ground" given that his fervent belief in the truth of his peoples holy text the __Book of Nefertum__ was clearly erroneous going by the evidence of his own eyes. We saw that the Bedrosians had transport shuttlecraft, force-fields and directed energy weapons and given that the war with the Optricans went on so long they must have been evenly matched. They did not have interstellar travel or beaming technology however which is why I think that the Prometheus with it's mixture of Goa'uld, Sectoid and other advanced alien technologies would be way too much for them to handle. The "Shock and Awe" effect of the X-303 turning up with shields able to resist nuclear attack and it's elerium Plasma-Beam armament would likely frighten the crap out of the Bedrosians especially after they witness what a 1.2 gt warhead teleported into a supposedly hardened facility can do._


	40. Chapter 40

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – P4S-237 – March 2003**

The mass of metal scaffolding at the entrance to the mines was rusty with age, with the naquada deposits thought exhausted a century before, and the planet abandoned by Baal, there had been little effort made to keep the infrastructure in a better state of repair and the entire edifice was less than stable making the current predicament of Lord Mot even more precarious than it would have been otherwise.

'So I hear that last winter when the workers here got sick and couldn't mine enough naquada to meet your quota you had ten of the villagers executed right in front of their families?' O'Neill remarked, looking into the Goa'uld upside-down face. 'I'll bet you're regretting doing stuff like now?'

It was very difficult to try and sound god-like and intimidating when you were being held by your ankles over the edge of a sheer drop but Mot tried to do so nonetheless. 'My Master Baal will punish you for your treatment of his loyal subject' he declared.

'Hailey, let go of one leg' O'Neill ordered the young lieutenant wearing powered-armour who was kneeling down on the tier above dangling the goa'uld over the scaffolding so that he was at eye-level with O'Neill stood on the platform below her.

'Yes Sir' Jennifer Hailey replied and released her grip on Mot's left ankle so that she was now holding him only by his right.

'Good' O'Neill replied as Mot's inverted expression of defiance wavered a little. 'Now shake him' he said.

Hailey shook Mot hard, she was in no danger of dropping him, her suit gave her greatly amplified strength and in fact she had to be more careful not to grip too hard and crush his bones. After a few seconds Mot started to wail which was extremely satisfying, not least to the villagers stood watching below. 'He is going a strange colour O'Neill' Teal'c observed.

'Yeah' O'Neill agreed then let the shaking continue a while longer. 'Okay, that's enough' he said. 'Wouldn't want him losing his lunch over Jonas and the locals down there' he added as Hailey stopped shaking him.

'Although if it were just Jonas it might be amusing' Teal'c suggested, earning a soft punch on the arm from Carter and a muffled laugh from Andianov who was waiting nearby with a hopeful expression and a stun-rod in her hand set to a voltage that would be more than a little painful to endure.

'Okay Mot' O'Neill told the queasy Goa'uld. 'The way we figure it you've been stockpiling all the naquada that's been pulled out of this mine the last hundred years and you've been planning to make a move against your supposed boss Baal when the time was right' he said.

Mot blinked, he had no idea the Tau'ri were so well-informed. 'I am a loyal...'

'Give him a couple of thousand volts please Sergeant' O'Neill ordered, knowing the Lieutenant above was well insulated by her suit. It had been designed to withstand zat-blasts as well as other energy weapons.

Andianov stepped forward. 'This will hurt you a lot more than it will me but far less than you deserve' she said and hit him with the stun-rod causing Mot to spasm wildly as the nervous systems of both human host and goa'uld parasite fired uncontrollably.

'So let's try again' O'Neill said as Andianov stopped shocking Mot, giving him a few seconds to recover. 'A long time ago Baal kicked your butt and made you work for him and ever since then you've held a grudge' he said. 'When he gave up on this world you stepped in and if anything you were an even bigger asshole than he was' O'Neill continued. 'Now you've got a nice little stockpile of naquada and a few ships of your own which make you a bigger player than most of the small-fry and you thought you could get revenge _and_ step up to the big time all at once what with all the chaos going on out there, but let's face it buddy, it ain't working out now is it?'

This was so humiliating Mot thought to himself, for a couple of years now he had been hearing tales of how other goa'uld had been captured or defeated by the Tau'ri and had mocked them for being so pathetic but now he was in the very same boat as the likes of Nirrti without even her scientific skills to trade for his life. Chances were that the Tau'ri would torture any information from him they could obtain and then hand him over to the Tok'ra who would extract him from the host and happily grind him into a fine paste. 'What do you want?' he asked.

'Oh we're just doing this for kicks mostly' O'Neill told him. 'That Al'kesh you arrived in was a nice bonus though.'

'It'll need a few upgrades but once we've got it up to our specs I'm sure we can find a use for it' Carter agreed. 'You know he might know some useful inside intel on Baal Sir, if we dropped him on his head we might lose the opportunity to get at it even if we dragged his corpse back to the SGC and bought him back to the land of the living in a sarcophagus.'

'Damn, I wanted to see the expression on his face when the Lieutenant dropped him' O'Neill responded sadly.

It had all been going so well Mot recalled, Chazen his spy in the villagers ranks had informed him via a long-range communication device that the Tau'ri had come to this world and he was going to capture them and make his name by doing so. Presenting Anubis, or perhaps even Apophis, with the heads of the infamous Jack O'Neill and the rest of the notorious SG-1 would make him a hero of the goa'uld, he even considered keeping one of the two females as a trophy body-slave once they were properly domesticated but now _he_ was the trophy.

Mot could only assume that the rumours that the Tau'ri had devices that enabled them to read minds were true because when he arrived with fifty of the elite of his personal guard the ambush they planned was itself ambushed by twelve or so human soldiers wearing their bulky machine-like armour who took all of about three minutes to shoot his best troops to pieces with their laser weapons while staff-blasts impacted harmlessly on their armour. He was stunned with a zat'nik'tel and when he regain consciousness he found himself bound next to Chazen on the rough wooden floor of a village dwelling with the shol'va Teal'c standing guard over them both. Eventually he was dragged out by one of the armoured soldiers, pelted with rotten fruit by his supposed loyal subjects and hauled to the top of the scaffolding.

'Lieutenant could you start him swinging from side to side like a pendulum' O'Neill requested.

Jennifer Hailey wasn't sure why he ordered her to do it but she did so and began swinging the goa'uld through the air in an arc. As one of the few SGC-based troops with power-armour experience she had come along on this mission after Colonel O'Neill requested heavy back-up and it did make a nice break from the lab-work she would have been doing otherwise.

Major Carter watched the goa'uld swing back and forth for a while. 'Sir is there an actual purpose to this?' she asked O'Neill eventually.

'Carter do you think any of the people here will ever take the goa'uld seriously as gods again after watching us do this to one of them?' O'Neill queried. 'These jerks rule by fear, superstition and intimidation, take that away and what do they have? A few Jaffa and crappy dress-sense.'

'So your master-plan is to make the goa'uld figures of fun to be mocked O'Neill?' Teal'c reasoned. 'An intriguing and novel tactic' he said with some admiration.

'It just came to me when I realised I needed a more convincing justification for doing stuff like this to them' O'Neill admitted. 'I mean we've pretty much got free rein to shoot them but for some reason if you play practical jokes on them instead the brass don't like it' he complained. 'They say it's unprofessional or something but I say why not try enjoy your work?' he asked rhetorically.

Andianov looked at him. 'Colonel you are without a doubt the strangest yet somehow still inexplicably effective commanding officer who I have ever served under' she stated.

'Why thank you Sergeant' O'Neill replied with a smile.

'It was not _entirely_ a complement' Andianov told him flatly. 'Our prisoner looks unwell again' she pointed out.

'That's enough Lieutenant, haul him back up' O'Neill ordered. 'Don't bother being too gentle about it' he instructed her as Hailey complied. 'So do we gate home or take the ship Mr Moto came in?' he asked.

'We're at least several weeks from Earth Sir' Carter noted, 'even at maximum speed for an Al'kesh.'

'Probably better tell the SGC to send a crew here to pick it up then' O'Neill decided, 'it's not like we get a bonus for bringing them back anyway.'

'They could at least let us keep one' Carter joked. 'Maybe not a Hat'ak or an Al'kesh but we could place a claim the next Tel'tak we snag.'

'Nah, they'd never go for it Carter' O'Neill replied. 'They wouldn't even let me put a Staff-Weapon over my fireplace' he told her. 'And it's not like there aren't plenty to spare.'

'Maybe if you just asked for it to be on your office wall they might say yes' Carter suggested. 'The security issues are probably less than having alien weaponry at your own home.'

'I have an office?' O'Neill asked in surprise.

'Yes Sir, it's where your desk is' Carter told him.

'So you weren't kidding before about my having a desk' O'Neill queried.

'No Sir' Carter replied. 'I think you might find your office full of boxes of files though, people were talking about how it was unused space' she said.

O'Neill suddenly adopted a furious expression. 'They could have at least asked my permission' he declared.

'I think you'll find if you check your messages they did Sir' Carter told him.

Teal'c turned to Andianov. 'Inexplicably effective' he remarked.

'I call it as I see it' the Sergeant replied with a shrug.

**Nox Capital – P3X-774 – March 2003**

It was the turn of the Nox to host the increasingly frequent meetings between the various member worlds and it was hard to dispute that a city hovering a mile above a pristine wooded valley was more than a little impressive as a venue, even if the general decor wasn't quite what several of the representatives would have chosen. The Aschen Mollem in particular was clearly put-off by the vines that seemed to be growing everywhere and at lunch had eyed the cuisine on offer suspiciously, much of his own homeworld was a sprawling metropolis that couldn't even support its own population without food imports it was certainly nothing like P3X-774 or Gaia as the locals called it.

The large table they were sat around looked like rough hewn oak, which certainly clashed with the various devices set upon it, while the Nox had perfect recall and required neither recording devices or notes everyone else was more reliant on technology and Elizabeth Weir was tapping away at her laptop as Freyr the Asgard representative presented an update on his people's rebuilding efforts after the imprisonment of the Replicators. The Tok'ra hadn't arrived yet but after waiting for some time the others had decided to start without them, any voting would have to wait until they turned up but preliminary discussions or issues not related to them could go ahead.

Freyr moved a stone on the console placed on the table in front of him and a hologram appeared in front of them showing a city under construction. 'As you can see our engineers have already made considerable progress' he said, zooming the image in on a gleaming tower. 'The city we are building on our new capital world of Orilla will soon be ready and this building will house our High Council' he announced with some pride.

Lya of the Nox smiled, the Asgard design aesthetic favoured steel, polished stone and glass far too much for her tastes but it was good to hear that her people's oldest friends were recovering so well from their long struggle with the soulless machines. 'I very much look forward to visiting your new city once it is finished' she told Freyr.

'The Nox are always welcome' Freyr replied with a slight bow. 'And of course any of our other friends equally so' he added diplomatically. Of course only the Nox and Tollan had the technical expertise and power-generation required to easily open an intergalactic wormhole, Earth could gate to Ida as well, thanks to some Ancient Technology that was temporarily downloaded into the mind of a certain Jack O'Neill, but it wasn't quite as easy for them and burned out their power-booster every time.

Omoc representing Tollana leaned forward in his chair. 'If the Curia and People of Tollana can be of any assistance in your rebuilding efforts we would be only too happy to offer our help' he said.

'I will pass on your generous offer to the Asgard High Council' Freyr replied, it was highly unlikely the Tollan would be taken up on it but they could produce high-enough grade alloys to make the offer not entirely worthless.

'I know that the Asgard use naquada in both their ships hulls and certain technologies' Kallan of Orban spoke up, 'if you require additional quantities in this time of renewal I'm sure our government could increase our production of the refined material from the ore Earth has in abundance' he said, looking to Elizabeth Weir.

Weir nodded. 'If the Asgard do in fact require naquada I think I can safely say that ourselves and the Orbanians acting together can indeed supply your needs' she told Freyr.

'Our existing stocks are plentiful but again I will pass on the offer to the High Council and offer my personal thanks to both Orban and Earth for making it' Freyr replied.

'I wish my own world Pangar was in a position to offer more than merely our good will and best wishes' Commander Tegar observed, he was the only military officer present and his bearing and body-language would have made him stand out even without his fairly ornate dress uniform. 'Unfortunately we are not as advanced as the other worlds represented here' he admitted. Pangar was a relatively recent addition to the growing number of planets that had sought membership of the new Alliance and to be perfectly honest it was seeking to ingratiate itself with everyone it could. So far they had made greatest progress with the Tok'ra, who had been surprisingly forgiving of the Pangarans inadvertent ill-treatment of their queen Egeria, although Tegar suspected this was in part due to the fact that one Pangaran, the archaeologist Zenna Valk, had already become blended with the Tok'ra Kelmaa. He considered it likely that the Tok'ra were hoping that more Pangarans would subsequently volunteer to become hosts, especially if they were thinking longer-term now that Egeria was surely to start increasing the Tok'ra ranks once more.

'Your good will is welcome in itself' Freyr replied diplomatically. 'I will also say that technological advancement is not the best judge of a civilisation in any case' he continued. 'The Goa'uld are more advanced in their science than many other societies but they are barbarians nonetheless' he stated.

If he had been less emotionally controlled Mollem would have sneered at that statement. The Aschen Confederation was great only because it was so scientifically advanced and lesser peoples were simply disposable chaff. His government was already improving upon the Goa'uld weaponry and devices which Earth had supplied and in time would surely master the technologies of the Tollan, Asgard and others. The truly pathetic creatures that were the Nox, and indeed the new race known as the Gadmeer, would be wiped out once the Confederation eventually took its rightful place in the galaxy. This would of course take many years, but the Aschen were nothing if not patient and they knew System Lord's would have to be defeated first in any case, that being an easier proposition if the likes of the Earth humans and others were around to act as cannon fodder. 'Unfortunately much of the available economic and industrial resources of the Aschen Confederation are currently planned to be employed in the taming and colonisation of Svoriin so we will also have to offer only our goodwill' he told the Asgard.

'Just watch out for the giant bugs' Weir joked, Svoriin, otherwise known as BP6-3Q1 had once been locked out of the SGC's dialing computer due to the danger presented by its insect life. Now with its original stargate removed and replaced with a Tollan version, this being locked so that it could only be used to travel to other Confederation planets, the world was being handed over to the Aschen who badly needed living space.

'The extermination of the hostile indigenous life should not prove a problem' Mollem replied.

Lya frowned. 'I hope that you are using a selective insecticide that will not cause excessive environmental damage?' she asked Mollem.

'The Aschen have no wish to poison a world we plan to colonise' Mollem responded. 'Given that there are intact cities in a decent state of repair already available we hope to establish farms quickly and start to re-house millions of our citizens there within a year' he said.

'The Aschen' Tegar couldn't help himself saying. 'Masters of almost every field of scientific endeavour... but yet somehow they never seem to have really got to grips with contraception' he observed, causing Kallan to guffaw and even the taciturn Omoc had to hold back laughter.

Mollem looked daggers at Tegar who smiled back in response. One of the joys of being in the military he thought was that he could get away with being less diplomatic than the others even if he suspected his Premier Dollen might haul him over the coals for it when he got home.

Elizabeth Wier decided it might be best to change the subject and hopefully diffuse the situation before it escalated. 'I was wondering if the Asgard and Nox governments in particular have given any consideration to my suggestion that we install a replacement stargate on the world we call Heliopolis and re-establish it as the permanent meeting place for the new Alliance?' she asked.

Freyr shut down the hologram. 'The High Council has certainly reacted with interest' he replied, 'though the condition of the planet would likely necessitate its environment be repaired first' he replied.

'The Nox favour the continuity and symbolism' Lya told her. 'Although the Alliance was previously less... fractured' she noted. 'If we accept the Asgard designation of humanity as the Fifth Race it should be noted that unlike the other four you are not united' she said. 'At this very table we have representatives of Earth, Tollan, Orban, Pangara and the Aschen Confederation and before long we expect them to be joined by Optrica, Hebridan and perhaps a joint representative of the three governments on Langara.'

'Hebridan is a joint human and Serrakin world' Weir pointed out.

'True enough' Lya conceded. 'However there is still some concern that a human voting bloc may emerge in time that would tend to dominate proceedings' she said honestly.

Weir smiled. 'You may be underestimating the human ability to quarrel amongst ourselves' she said, earning a chuckle from Tegar. 'We only tend to set aside our differences when facing a common threat such as the Goa'uld' she said. 'As regards voting blocks, with the Gadmeer likely to join too, and the suggestion that the Reol be given a seat as well, the Nox will shortly be gaining persuasive philosophical allies I would think' she continued. 'I hope the Tollan would not be offended if I gave them as an example of a human society that would align themselves more comfortably with your outlook too for that matter.'

Lya looked to Omoc who affirmed Weir's suggestion with a nod. Thanks largely to contact with Earth the Tollan Curia and public in general were not near as isolationist in belief as they had been before, but they still nonetheless considered the alien Nox a more acceptable and natural ally than many of the other worlds populated by their own species. 'I think it is safe to say that on many or most voting matters the Nox will have the support of Tollana' he said.

'The government of Orban equally wishes only peace and friendly relations with all' Kalan spoke up. 'Like the Tollan we are not a warlike or expansionist people and only maintain a limited military for self-defence.'

'Some might say the best defence is a good offence' Tegar observed.

'A sound dictum' Mollem agreed. 'Have not the Tollan in fact accepted the truth of this themselves with their strategic deterrent of phasing warships armed with planetary destroying bombs?' he asked.

'Our fleet would only be deployed in retaliation not aggression' Omoc stated forcefully.

'Yet still it is your "retaliatory" _offensive_ capabilities that the Goa'uld fear more than even your formidable planetary defences' Mollem pointed out. 'If we had equivalent hyperdrive technology the Aschen Confederation would surely itself build a similar deterrent' he said.

The door to the chamber opened and a Nox guide let in a woman in Tok'ra uniform. 'I am Sina' she began, 'Queen Egeria and the Tok'ra High Council sends greetings to this assembly' she said. 'Unfortunately I am also the bearer of a disquieting change in the war between Apophis and the other System Lords' she added with an expression on her face that indicated her news was in fact fairly dire.

'You have the floor' Lya told the Tok'ra.

Sina took a breath. 'Several weeks ago Tok'ra agents infiltrated into the court of Lord Yu reported that his behaviour was becoming erratic and unpredictable' she said. 'This has now reached a crisis point because earlier today we discovered that Lord Yu has made a peace with Apophis and has declared war on Anubis instead.'

'What?' Weir exclaimed.

'I am afraid to say that this has been confirmed by reports that Yu's fleet has attacked a system that belongs to Anubis and destroyed it' Sina told them. 'In addition those ships which Apophis had fighting Yu have been re-deployed against Morrigan who was already overstretched and may be forced to retreat back to her own domain within days' she said.

'This is not good news' Freyr stated.

'Lord Yu has long been known to hate Anubis with some intensity' Sina noted, 'in fact he was an ally of Apophis and Ra when the System Lords collectively banished Anubis centuries ago' she continued. 'Even so we were surprised at his sudden shift in allegiance this time, as it seems was Apophis who thought it a trap or ploy at first it seems.'

'For Apophis to re-deploy his fleet Yu must have convinced him of his change of heart somehow' Weir reasoned.

Sina nodded. 'Lord Yu handed over both Kronos and Terok to Apophis as a peace offering' she explained. 'The latter was put to death immediately but Kronos as a long-standing foe of Apophis did not share such a merciful fate, it is likely his torture and suffering will be immense' she said dispassionately.

'Is this really such a big deal?' Tegar queried. 'I mean one System Lord switches side out of how many?'

Omoc turned to address the Pangaran. 'The war has been near stalemate for some time' he said. 'Apophis inherited a superior industrial base from Sokar which along with his faster ships means he has always been able to recover faster from his losses and shift forces from one front to another more rapidly than his enemies' he said. 'Only the superior shields and weaponry of Anubis and his ally Baal, accompanied by the combined fleets of all the other System Lords have kept the balance while they try to match the shipbuilding output of Apophis yards' Omoc explained. 'If Lord Yu switches sides, and Morrigan is knocked out of the war too, then Apophis will then be able to pick off the others one by one fighting a more proactive offensive war rather than the largely reactive defensive one that has characterised his tactics since Anubis and Baal joined the fight.'

'The Ha'tak of Anubis and Baal are individually more formidable in battle than those of Apophis but quantity has a quality all its own' Sina agreed. 'It should also be noted that the ships of Apophis are not only faster they are also generally better armed and protected than those of every System Lord except Anubis and Baal.'

'I thought the other System Lords were getting the upgraded technology too?' Kallan asked.

'Baal has given some of the required improved schematics to Bastet, Kali and Amaterasu but as yet they have only fielded small numbers of upgraded ships because none had the spare industrial capacity required to both fully re-tool production lines and replace battlefield losses at the same time' Sina told him. 'Baal himself waited until his shipyards were ready, and he already had a number of the latest vessels in service, before joining the war, the other Goa'uld were not so fortunate.'

'I'll have to report this development to Earth immediately' Weir said, getting up and closing her laptop. 'If Apophis gains clear ascendancy he may decide to divert forces against us.'

'Unlikely for the foreseeable future but you might certainly want to end any campaigns you are undertaking against his enemies at least' Sina advised.

Lya was inwardly upset by all this talk of war but knew that other peoples neither shared the pacifism of the Nox nor indeed their ability to hide their entire society from danger if necessary. 'Do we know more of what caused Lord Yu to make such an unexpected and sudden change in policy?' she asked.

'We think he's going senile' Sina replied. 'On the plus side he may conceivably switch sides again tomorrow when he forgets who he's supposed to be at war with' she added.

**Tagrean Capital – P3X-744 – March 2003**

Colonel William Ronson couldn't help but note the hostility being directed his way by Commander Kalfas, the head of the Tagrean Security Forces as they sat to dinner together with other senior members of the Tagrean government and military at a special function hosted by Chairman Ashwan the Tagrean Head of State. 'This wine is truly excellent' Ronson told Ashwan, taking another sip though he had no plans to drink more than one glass. His ship was landed within a few miles of the city surrounded by Tagrean forces but he didn't think they were going to try and attack _Prometheus_ and he knew for certain they weren't advanced enough to overwhelm her defences.

Ashwan smiled. 'I am glad to hear our local food and drink measures up to the standards of a people who have travelled the stars' he replied.

'To be honest most of my time is spent aboard my ship eating whatever the supply officers of the United States Air Force think to be suitable rations' Ronson admitted. 'As I said before we were not even sure that this world was even inhabited so the usual senior diplomatic team who handles first-contact situations was not aboard.'

Kalfas ignored his own glass of wine. 'You still insist that somewhere on our world there is, or was, one of these devices you call a stargate?' he asked.

'P3X-744, sorry I mean Tagrea, does appear on a list of planets we have that were once on the stargate network and the fact that you are here pretty much confirms it' Ronson replied. 'Because it wasn't too far out of our way it was decided to take a detour to where we knew a stargate had been and see if anything was there' he said.

'And you found us' Ashwan replied.

'Another world inhabited by the descendants of people stolen from Earth by the Goa'uld to act as slaves yes' Ronson said. 'Our initial studies of available literature and a few remaining artefacts leads us to believe that this was once a world belonging to Heru-Ur and that he abandoned it long ago when the mines he once had here were depleted' he said. 'Your people most likely buried the stargate so the son-of-a-bitch, excuse my language, couldn't come back again.'

'And you think it is most likely to be found in the Wastelands of Annur?' another Tagrean official asked.

'My linguists and research team certainly think so' Ronson replied. 'Another vessel from either Earth or one of our friends will likely visit Tagrea again soon so if you can't find it let the next ship know and we can arrange with the Tollan to provide a replacement.'

'The Tollan are one of your allies yes?' Ashwan asked.

'Yes, nice people, very advanced technologically more so than ourselves' Ronson told him. 'As far as we know they were the first human culture that matched and then outstripped the goa'uld scientifically and the System Lord's have tended to keep away ever since.'

'So their defence technology is formidable too?' Kalfas queried.

'Very' Ronson confirmed.

Kalfas turned to Ashwan. 'Chairman I believe that we should maintain a high military alert and keep our missiles ready to resist a potentially hostile invasion.'

'If you mean by any of the major star-faring civilisations I'm afraid to say your nuclear weapons wouldn't be effective against the shields of their capital ships, even if they didn't shoot them down first' Ronson told him. 'If the Goa'uld came to Tagrea they could bombard you into submission from orbit and they probably would because they don't like any human planet to be industrialised, they prefer ignorant peasants that can't fight back as slaves.'

A ripple of disquiet went around the table. 'And I suppose now you'll say that you can protect us from this threat?' Kalfas said with the definite hint of a sneer on his face.

'Kalfas you are being rude to our honoured guest' Ashwan told him.

'Mr Chairman this is clearly a protection racket' Kalfas declared, 'these aliens come to a world more primitive than theirs, speak of dangerous enemies we have never seen and then offer to take us under their wing' he said. 'What price do we have to pay?' he asked Ronson sardonically. 'Precious jewels? Gold? Uranium?' he suggested. 'You talked of our ancestors being slaves before so perhaps you're going to ask for a few of our sons and daughters as payment?'

Ronson was a very controlled man but he was getting riled now. 'Neither my own country, the United States of America, the United Nations of Earth or any of our off-world allies practices slavery' he said coldly. 'We're not asking for or demanding a damn thing from you, we're only here to say hello and hopefully establish peaceful relations, maybe begin a mutually beneficial trading relationship' he continued. 'I hope your elected leaders are wise enough to see that' he added.

Ashwan glared at Kalfas before turning to Colonel Ronson again. 'You speak of trade?' he asked.

'It's one of the goals of ourselves and our allies to both strengthen our ties and benefit our citizens through trade via the stargate network' Ronson replied, calming himself. 'Every world seems to have something to offer' he said. 'You might find a profitable market for your fine wines' he said with a smile. 'The Tollan initially thought that because they were centuries ahead of us we had nothing they might want but then they tried some of our herbs and spices and a candy called chocolate' he told them.

'But would they trade us their technology?' Ashwan asked.

'Not the Tollan, they're pretty up-tight on that' Ronson replied, 'but the Orbanians for one are more open to that, we got our naquada reactor technology from them' he told them.

'Ah yes this fantastical element that powers your great ship but which is unknown here' Kalfas commented. 'Perhaps you will give our scientists a sample to look at?'

'If you can find the stargate it's made of the stuff' Ronson told him. 'I'll have my engineers provide a sample of lower-grade material for you though.'

'Lower grade?' Ashwan queried.

'High grade naquada is usually used for weaponry not reactor fuel' Ronson explained. 'Even a small quantity of weapons grade naquada could blow this entire city off the face of Tagrea and if the next ship from Earth found a big crater here I could kiss my next promotion goodbye' he said deadpan.

'You do not consider our finest scientific minds clever enough to work safely with such a material?' Kalfas asked.

'Not until _our_ finest scientific minds explain it to them no' Ronson replied honestly. 'After that the chances are my superiors will provide as much as you need for self-defence' he said. 'Earth has a surplus and naquada powered weaponry and shields would drastically increase your ability to fight off a Goa'uld attack' he told them. 'One of our main strategic goals is to put together a coalition of worlds that collectively can rival the System Lords' he explained.

Kalfas finally decided to take some of his wine. 'Why do I now have a vision of Tagrean soldiers as cannon-fodder serving other worlds in a war that is nothing to do with us, nor of our own making?' he asked rhetorically, taking a mouthful from his glass.

'Paranoia perhaps?' Ronson suggested, if this jerk was going to ignore the diplomatic niceties again and again then so was he.

The Tagrean military officer smirked. 'Is it paranoid that while we've been sitting here I ordered the forces surrounding your ship to be tripled?' he asked.

'I agreed to no such order being issued' Ashwan declared.

'Where the protection of our country is concerned the military holds ultimate responsibility' Kalfas responded.

Chairman Ashwan stood up. 'Perhaps you weren't paying attention in school when they explained how our constitution works' he said with a passion and determination that surprised everyone at the table, normally a placid man the Chairman was often portrayed as weak. 'I was _elected_ to my position as head of state, you were merely _promoted_ to the position as head of the armed forces' he declared. 'The voice of the people comes through me.'

'The people need a strong hand, they often make the wrong decision such as when they choose to vote into office a man who would sell them into slavery' Kalfas retorted, getting up himself. 'It seems it was wise of me to order several regiments into the capital as well' he added smugly.

Ronson looked from one to the other. 'So are military coups common around here because I think I just got caught up in one' he asked someone else at the table wryly.

'You ordered the army onto the streets' Ashwan said aghast.

'For the good of Tagrea' Kalfas replied.

Ashwan straightened up and struck a determined pose. 'Commander Kalfas you are relieved of command' he told him. 'I will order your deputy to send the troops back to barracks and have you placed in detention awaiting trial for treason.'

'Treason?' Kalfas replied. 'No Mr Chairman this is _patriotism_' he declared.

'Oh this is going to take so much paperwork to sort out when I get home' Colonel Ronson complained under his breath, 'Major Gant are you listening to this?' he asked more loudly. 'Incidentally I'm wearing a wire' he told the room.

'Yes Sir' came a reply from a radio in Ronson's pocket.

'If the sensors on _Prometheus_ have a solid reading on this location Commander Kalfas is the man to my immediate left' Colonel Ronson told her. 'Please teleport him to the brig' he ordered.

Kalfas looked confused. 'Teleport?' he asked then screamed as he started to shimmer for a moment before disappearing completely, all the other Tagreans looking on in shock.

'He's unharmed, I just had him placed in a cell on my ship until you could let me know where else you want him put' Ronson told Ashwan. 'If you want my advice right in front of a firing squad would be ideal' he suggested. 'Could I get a bottle of this to take home?' he asked hopefully, indicating the wine.

The Tagreans just stared at him as miles away Commander Kalfas, former head of the Tagrean Security Forces pounded on the door of the brig of the USAF _Prometheus_ howling in rage.

* * *

**_Note from the Author:_**

_P4S-237 was a former mining colony of Baal, now ruled by his underling Lord Mot featured in episode 6:21 Prophecy. In the show it was Jonas having developed precognition thanks to an experiment carried out on him by Nirrti that saved the day but here it was his psionic ability to read minds that did it._

_The Nox city on, or rather hovering above, Gaia (P3X-774) would make an interesting backdrop for a conference I thought. The Asgard at this time were re-building their civilisation with Orilla as their new capital world and I can imagine them wanting to keep their allies informed of the progress given that ties between worlds are deeper and wider here than in the series. __Heliopolis (P3X-972) was where the Alliance of Four Great Races (Ancients, Asgard, Nox and Furlings) once used to meet, we saw in it episode 1:11 The Torment of Tantalus. It needed some work but the Asgard and Nox should have the technology to fix the planet up again and it would make a suitable and historic permanent meeting place for a new Alliance I thought. __Sina was a Tok'ra sent as a messenger to Earth in episodes 6:21 and 7:01. Lord Yu always hated Anubis, he was also gradually starting to lose his mind so this sudden switch in sides is not all that unlikely. He did once in fact forget who he was at war with saying Anubis when he was fighting Baal in episode 8:01 New Order!_

_Colonel William Ronson seemed like a no-nonsense type and I thought this solution to the problem of Commander Kalfas in the XSGCOM version of episode 6:20 Memento was both effective and pretty funny._


	41. Chapter 41

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Palace of Apophis – Delmak – April 2003**

Zipacna looked even more pleased with himself than usual although for once his self-satisfied smug expression was justified as he approached the golden throne Apophis sat upon. 'My Lord, the attack you ordered I lead against Morrigan went even better than predicted' Zipacna began. 'Her fleet is scattered to the four winds, her elite guard shattered and we have driven a wedge between the forces of Anubis and Baal' he declared.

'Well done Zipacna' Apophis responded. 'When we are finally victorious I will gift you a third the worlds of Morrigan to add to your personal domain' he told him.

'Very generous My Lord' Zipacna replied, bowing to his master.

'You have earned it not only for your recent successes but for your ongoing loyalty' Apophis told him. 'Your losses were not too severe?' he asked.

'A handful of Ha'tak motherships, a dozen Al'kesh and perhaps thirty Deathgliders' Zipacna replied. 'Three of the Ha'tak were of the older type you inherited from Sokar's fleet which I used to soak up enemy fire before committing our newer vessels.'

'A trifle' Apophis responded, 'wise of you to sacrifice the obsolescent ships, they are of little use against Baal or Anubis in any case and it is they we must defeat' he said, standing up. 'Walk with me' he told Zipacna, leading off down the throne room. Jaffa guards stood to attention by each of the stone columns that lined the way from the huge double-doors at the entrance to the throne itself.

Zipacna followed, his hands hooked together behind his back and making sure not to step on the trailing cloak Apophis was wearing. 'Have we heard anything of Lord Yu?' he asked.

'Given the inferiority of his ships to those of Anubis the old fool is doing much better than could be expected' Apophis replied, his own surprise evident in his tone. 'Anubis is on the defensive and cannot bring his full force to bear against Yu because he knows if he did he would expose himself to an attack by ourselves' he said.

'Do you still wish me to attack Camulus instead?' Zipacna checked.

'I do' Apophis confirmed. 'Although not as weak as Morrigan was he is still the System Lord least able to resist a major offensive and he is fighting too far from his own territory and base of supply' he said. 'He will not crumble as Morrigan did but he will retreat quickly and will lick his wounds for months on his own worlds.'

They reached the doors which were swung open by the Serpent Guards there and Apophis continued through into the passage beyond. He turned left, clearly leading Zipacna somewhere though Zipacna had no idea where they were going. 'Baal and his three harlots are building in strength while your other fleets merely skirmish with them' Zipacna remarked, 'once Camulus is driven off we will need to deal with them My Lord' he advised.

Apophis laughed. 'Bastet and Kali have some proven longstanding loyalty to each other but Amaterasu is not quite as dependable' he said. 'She is the weak point and the one we will attack and exploit when the time comes' he told Zipacna.

'What of Baal himself?' Zipacna queried.

'Expect him to be a sore loser as always and to destroy any system he is forced to retreat from' Apophis replied. 'He will however fight skilfully and with cunning, we should not underestimate him even if the war continues in our favour.'

Zipacna nodded, Baal had the largest fleet of any of the System Lords fighting against Apophis and his ships were only marginally inferior to those of Anubis himself although the latter did have his Asgard tricks available to him these days too. 'It will be a long hard fight to defeat Baal' he said, 'as well as his own shipyards he still holds Erebus.'

'Which we will take back early in the campaign if only to deny it to him' Apophis stated. It was likely Baal would blow the Hat'ak production facility on Erebus to pieces rather than allow it to fall once again into the hands of Apophis but Baal needed it more.

'May I ask if the rumour I heard of Ares making approaches with a aim to joining us are true?' Zipacna asked.

'They are' Apophis confirmed, 'his fleet is small but his ground forces are well-trained and have a justifiable reputation for fierceness' he said. 'Ares is a god of war after all' he added with amusement. 'Through him we may also gain alliance with his trading partner Moloc who has large numbers of Jaffa he can bring into the fight.'

'He is also quite insane' Zipacna pointed out. 'He has every female Jaffa born in his realm immediately put to death I have heard' he said with an expression that indicated he regarded this as an act of utter lunacy. The Goa'uld could often be needless cruel to the point of outright evil but this policy of Moloc was wasteful and short-sighted as well.

'Thus ensuring that long-term he won't be a problem for us because in merely a few decades he won't have any armies left and we can simply take over his territory' Apophis replied. 'I will likely offer him several worlds now because I know I'll get them back before long anyway' he remarked.

'Hopefully our enemies will speed up the process of depleting his ranks too' Zipacna commented as they reached another set of doors, these ones also opening for them but only after a pause and apparently they were automatic and had to unbolt themselves first. 'I have not been to this part of the Palace before' he noted.

'Of course not, you should consider it an honour and part of your reward for your service that you do now' Apophis told him as the doors opened. 'This is where Sokar was developing his new technology' he explained as they entered a laboratory staffed by a number of minor goa'uld. Devices that might of been recovered Ancient technology mixed with designs obviously of their races own devising filled the room and a holographic projection of schematics was shifting from image to image nearby. 'The cloaking field that equips our motherships was invented here' Apophis told him. 'As was Sokar's particle beam technology' he added.

'Impressive' Zipacna observed, looking around.

Apophis watched the hologram for a while. 'My researchers are currently investigating the wreckage of one of the Ha'tak of Anubis we destroyed in battle to ascertain its secrets but that is not what I wanted to show you' he said, looking away from the projection. 'Come forward Jaffa' he ordered and two Jaffa appeared, one wearing unusual armour of a type Zipacna was unfamiliar with and an equally unfamiliar helmet whilst the other was more conventionally attired and held a zat'nik'tel.

Zipacna examined the strange armour. 'Apart from the shoulder pieces his looks less sturdy than what our armies usually wear' he observed. 'A less resource-intensive armour for mass-production perhaps?' he asked.

'It has taken well over a year and a half of research, and the development of new manufacturing techniques to reduce the expense in time and materials needed in producing this armour to the point it can be manufactured in any reasonable numbers at all' Apophis replied. 'Sokar had only two prototype sets made before deciding it was better to devote his scientific personnel to perfecting his ships since Jaffa were easily replaced while Ha'tak were not' he said. 'I learned of it when I took over this world and started examining Sokar's records.'

'So how is it so special?' Zipacna queried.

'Show him' Apophis ordered and the Jaffa with the zat'nik'tel aimed and fired the weapon at the other Jaffa wearing the strange armour. The energy skittered over him as normal but instead of dropping to the ground unconscious the warrior remained upright and seemingly utterly unharmed by the discharge.

Zipacna stared in amazement. 'Zat'nik'tel proof armour?' he exclaimed.

'It also offers much better protection against a Staff-Weapon since it disperses energy fired at it over a larger surface area' Apophis told him. 'Sokar had it field tested by a roshna addicted mercenary in his employ and although he later went missing whilst pursuing a Tok'ra agent the reports he gave on its effectiveness before he disappeared were encouraging enough for me to begin the program anew' he said. 'The helmet contains sensors and a visual display similar to the piloting eyepiece used on a Tel'tak also, giving the wearer enhanced vision during both day and night.'

'The Tau'ri have often bested our forces once darkness falls using similar devices' Zipacna noted. 'You have already made many of these sets of armour?'

'Enough for an Al'kesh full of shock troops I intend to throw against Anubis within days' Apophis told him. 'With more being produced each day and Jaffa training in both how to use them and in their new weapons and tactics' he said.

'New weapons too?' Zipacna asked.

'The altered Staff-Weapons used by the shol'va Jaffa of Teal'c and Bra'tac have proven too effective not to imitate' Apophis told him. 'I have also resurrected an old idea of my own and have been training Jaffa to fight more like the Tau'ri do' he added then smirked. 'What we learn from one enemy we use against a greater one' he said then paused. 'So what do you think?' he asked.

Zipacna laughed. 'I wonder what the Jaffa of Anubis will think when confronted by these strangely armoured super-soldiers who do not fall when shot?' he replied.

**Free Jaffa Camp – P8X-987 – April 2003**

'It is an honour that you come to my home Hammond of Texas' Bra'tac told him. 'I only wish my lodgings were more suitable a place to bring guests' he added apologetically as they sat on the rugs that covered the floor of the Jaffa Master's tent.

'Your hospitality and the quality of the company more than makes up for any lack of amenities' Hammond replied, although he did wish that Bra'tac hadn't given all the good cushions to the third person sat with them. Egeria looked far more comfortable lying on her side and eating small grape-like fruit taken from a bowl beside her, she was at least wearing standard Tok'ra uniform rather than goa'uld finery which made her look a little less like a spoiled despot.

Egeria stretched out slightly and then reluctantly pushed the bowl away. 'Bra'tac you know I can't resist these, please stop putting them in front of me, they're full of sugar and my host is concerned we're going to put on weight' she told him. The Tok'ra Queen and the Jaffa Master seemed very at ease with each other and the former occasionally looked at him with a coy little smile on her face lending further weight to the rumours of where she obtained the genetic material needed to improve the chances of new Tok'ra symbiotes being compatible with human hosts.

'I know you like them and besides which on Chulak they are traditionally given to an expectant mother to provide much needed additional nourishment' Bra'tac replied.

The Tok'ra Queen laughed. 'I am not pregnant in quite that sense' she responded.

'Tradition is important' Bra'tac maintained, 'even if the meaning is only symbolic' he continued. 'We have been working hard to bring our peoples together and even the most minor things can help or hinder us' he said.

'Very well but perhaps a smaller bowl next time so my host doesn't nag me into doing more exercise' Egeria told him then turned to face Hammond. 'We should perhaps move onto matters of more import' she said. 'As you know the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa have reached an understanding regarding deeper alliance between us and joint action and pooling of resources in our fight against the System Lords.'

'I was very pleased to hear of it' Hammond replied. 'I was concerned that so many years of enmity would make it more difficult, perhaps impossible' he admitted.

'There are still a sizeable minority on both sides who do not approve but their numbers are shrinking as the Jaffa learn that the Tok'ra are not like the Goa'uld' Bra'tac replied.

'And the Tok'ra learn that the Jaffa are not mindless slaves of the Goa'uld' Egeria added. 'The fact is we need each other and I hope that when the new symbiotes I am carrying are implanted into the first Jaffa volunteers our cultural blending will take another step forward' she said.

Bra'tac nodded. 'In time as the prim'ta develops, the technique for Jaffa to contact it during a state of deep kelno'reem discovered by the priestess Shan'auc of the Red Hills will be encouraged' he said. 'However that is something for years to come, right now we have concerning news which came to light when information from both Tok'ra and Free Jaffa agents operating on the worlds of Apophis was put together.'

Hammond chuckled. 'So this wasn't just a social invite from an old friend then?' he responded.

'Unfortunately not although you are always welcome to visit' Bra'tac replied. 'Have you heard rumours of the new warriors of Apophis?' he asked.

'Vague reports have reached the SGC of a new elite unit of Jaffa with more advanced weapons but our teams haven't encountered them yet' Hammond replied.

'They are only attacking the worlds of Anubis' Egeria told him. 'They are using Staff-Rifles and a form of armour which is immune to zat'nik'tel charges and resistant to plasma' she continued. 'An agent of the Tok'ra named Korra has seen it before when he and SG-1 encountered a Bounty-Hunter in the service of Sokar' she told him. 'This armour in itself gives the Jaffa wearing it a great advantage in battle but there is more' she noted, indicating that Bra'tac should continue.

Bra'tac frowned. 'The new warrior elite of Apophis are using tactics you may find familiar' he said. 'They are landing in a cloaked ship, an Al'kesh we believe, and attacking the supply dumps and naquada mines of Anubis in order to weaken his front-line strength by indirect means.'

'Sounds exactly like we've been doing the last couple of years' Hammond replied.

'Yes and clearly Apophis has decided to emulate your success in using small teams of well-trained warriors with better equipment to achieve results far beyond what their numbers should be capable of' Bra'tac told him.

'Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery they say' Hammond replied. 'I guess that between his new troops and the successes of his fleet Apophis is clearly in the ascendant again then?'

'He is although the combined forces raised against him still mean victory remains far away at this time' Egeria said. 'Although the rest of our news likely means it is approaching sooner than we would have thought a couple of days ago.'

Hammond ran his palm backwards over his bald head. 'So what else have you got to tell me?' he asked.

'Recently a Free Jaffa informant on Chulak informed us that Apophis had begun to rebuild some of his old facilities there, including the factory where he once made his Death Gliders' Bra'tac said. 'We were confused by this as he already has more than enough Death Gliders, and in fact has more of a shortage of pilots than machines, but then we heard that what you would call the production line is being re-tooled to produce different craft.'

Egeria sat upright. 'At the same time the Tok'ra started to hear rumours of an old experimental type of craft that Apophis once abandoned being re-designed and improved' she said. 'They called it "Chappa'nok'kek" or Death from the Gate.'

'Oh I don't like where this is going' Hammond muttered.

Bra'tac nodded. 'Yes my friend, Apophis is starting to construct more of the craft we used to defeat the warriors of Hathor' he said. 'It is believed that your use of fighting machines that come through the chappa'ai once again inspired him.'

'Wonderful' Hammond responded sardonically.

'We have obtained some of the blueprints for the craft which show that it has been altered from the one Bra'tac was familiar with, and which you and Teal'c once flew' Egeria told Hammond. 'As well as the two light Staff-Cannon of the original there is a Heavy-Staff Cannon on a turret underneath the cockpit and Apophis has added the shield-generator from a Tel'tak' she said. 'The performance is inferior to a standard Death Glider in terms of speed and acceleration but it is much more formidable in the role of supporting ground troops.'

'It's a goddamn Goa'uld A-10' Hammond realised sadly. If the opposition continued to wise-up like this then Earth might actually start having to work hard not to lose battles.

'It is hard to thread the eye of the needle so only the very finest crews are being assigned to this task' Bra'tac said. 'Their leader is named Ronan, I knew his father, an acclaimed Death Glider pilot who shot down many enemies in his time' he continued, 'Cronus himself put a bounty of ten thousand shesh'ta on his head after he shot down an Al'kesh and five Death Gliders in a single engagement' he said. 'If Ronan is but half the aerial warrior his father was then there are few to match him in the skies' he opined.

'My people have a saying that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree' Hammond replied.

'The Jaffa have a saying with much the same sentiment' Bra'tac told him.

Egeria stretched out. 'Jacob Carter has said that if these new soldiers of Apophis are backed by what he calls decent close-air-support then they will be extremely formidable foes not just to other System Lords but also the Free Jaffa and your own teams' she told Hammond.

'I'd have to agree with that assessment' Hammond replied. 'Even the Staff-Rifles alone would increase their threat drastically which we know from how successful Bra'tac and his people have been with them' he said. 'Add in the armour and the ability to call in air-support through the gate and the days of light casualties for both of us could soon be over.'

Bra'tac sighed. 'Perhaps we have had it too easy and fate has decided to intervene?' he suggested. Free Jaffa warriors had been shooting "Loyalist" Jaffa still serving the Goa'uld to pieces on a regular basis ever since they started using Tau'ri small unit infantry tactics and weapons you could actually aim properly.

'Fate can go screw itself, we make our own' Hammond replied. 'Talking of making your own I noticed a line of Heavy Staff-Cannon on wooden gun carriages outside, you decided to take our advice then?' he asked.

'After hearing that even Sharp of Canada expressed an admiration for how the Jaffa of Kali used them to hold back him and his warriors it seemed wise to adopt them in greater numbers' Bra'tac replied. 'The Tok'ra are also developing a form of the Light Staff-Cannon that can be carried and fired from the shoulder' he added.

'We can provide better carriages than you're using' Hammond told him. 'I'll get someone to design one which will be lighter with rubber tyres and have sprung axles' he said. 'Oh and a cydonium gun-shield to protect the crew' he added, thinking about it. 'Just let us know how many you need, shouldn't take very long' he said.

Bra'tac smiled. 'Perhaps the same carriage design could be made to carry the rotating staff-weapons we have seen the Tau'ri use?' he asked.

'No reason why not I suppose' Hammond decided. 'Which I reckon is your cue to ask for Rotary Staffs?' he asked rhetorically, the Jaffa Master's smile broadening in response. 'Those really shouldn't be a problem' he said. Even after giving the Free Jaffa hundreds of the modified staff-rifles they still had masses of the goa'uld weapons taking up space at Area 51. 'A hand-crank could replace the electric motor we use to spin them just like on the original Gatling Gun' he said, miming the action. 'The faster you turn the crank the quicker the rate of fire.'

'It is perhaps a pity that the Tau'ri are not prepared to arm the Free Jaffa with their Laser Weapons' Egeria commented.

'Too expensive and if we're talking off the record you both know as well as I that X-COM doesn't favour giving the Free-Jaffa weaponry that can burn through the personal armour our teams wear' General Hammond replied honestly. 'The X stands as much for xenophobia as anything else' he continued wryly. 'However it might be easier in future for you to get more advanced weaponry from us if the Goa'uld keep raising their game like they are now.'

'So if Free Jaffa start dying in numbers at the hands of Apophis the Tau'ri might condescend to give them the scraps from their table?' Egeria responded sarcastically.

'Not how I would have phrased it but essentially yes' Hammond replied. 'And I know the reason you invited me here not Commander Sharp is that you know I'm more sympathetic and friendly to our off-world allies than he is, especially the non-human ones' he continued. 'So please stop giving me that look' he requested of Egeria. 'I'm a soldier and I obey orders, the policy of both my government and the UN is to let X-COM call the shots as long as continue to get results, and the fact is they have been very successful at fighting Earth's enemies and retrieving and back-engineering their technology.'

'If it wasn't for the moderating influence of yourself at the SGC and Elizabeth Weir's skills at diplomacy your position would not be anywhere near as good as it is' Egeria told him.

Hammond smiled. 'I certainly like to think I have a positive role to play at least' he responded. 'Now as for these new fighter aircraft...'

'Chappa'nok'kek' Bra'tac reminded him.

'I'm sure my people will abbreviate that as always' Hammond told him, 'is it possible for Free-Jaffa or Tok'ra agents to sabotage the facility where they are being made?' he asked.

'We are trying but we do not yet have an infiltrator in place yet' Egeria replied.

'Would a ground assault work?' Hammond checked.

'Apophis has established a force-field such as the one used by Hathor to protect the whole area, you could not get close' Bra'tac told him. 'Besides which there is a Ha'tak orbiting that would deliver death from above if you tried' he continued. 'If you are thinking to use your naquada-enhanced nuclear devices it should be known that Apophis has many thousands of human slave workers who would be slain if you did, as well as the many innocent Jaffa living nearby who would be killed by the blast, or the countless more suffer from the effects of the radioactive fallout that would result from a sufficiently large weapon.'

George Hammond looked thoughtful. 'Just the one Ha'tak?' he asked.

'Yes' Bra'tac confirmed.

'Then I guess it's time to find out if what the R&D people say twin Rotary Staff Cannon and a pair of Elerium Plasma Beams pulled from Sectoid Battleships will do to a Goa'uld Mothership is true then' Hammond declared, _Prometheus_ was going to be making a little detour on the way back home.

**High Orbit – Chulak – April 2003**

The Ha'tak mothership orbiting above the former capital world of Apophis was of the older type, deemed fit only for garrison duty now that it had been superseded by the more advanced vessels now being produced. Eventually it would be scrapped but for now it still had its uses and one of these was ensuring that a planet that was still of some importance to Apophis was protected against attack by anything short of a major assault force.

Most of the ships belonging to the System Lords were either Tel'tak transports or the slightly less numerous Al'kesh which functioned as assault ships and troop transports. Massing millions of tonnes, and requiring large amounts of naquada to fuel and a large crew to maintain a Ha'tak was a major investment of resources and although many hundreds were in operation in galactic terms they were still spread very thin especially when the majority were currently blasting each other to pieces on the front lines of the greatest war the Goa'uld had ever fought. Any strike against Chulak was likely to be by a few Al'kesh at most and the Ha'tak standing guard could easily defeat a small fleet of those, especially given the dozens of Death Gliders it carried also.

One major problem of standing garrison duty for an extended length of time was that inactivity will breed sloth and boredom is not conducive to maintaining a sharp mind. There had been little military activity anywhere near Chulak since Apophis defeated the fleets of Heru'ur and his successor Terok, and the crew of the ship orbiting it were gradually succumbing to the relentless uninterrupted drudgery of never getting to see the glory of battle that a true Jaffa lives for. They were not even local to the world, being mostly former soldiers of Sokar who were born on Delmak, so the occasional shore-leave they were granted was far from welcome as they were treated as outsiders, or worse murderers.

When Apophis took over Sokar's domain one of his first acts was to order a fleet to Chulak and re-establish his rule there, his newly acquired armies told to show no mercy to the world which had spawned the Jaffa Rebellion. Sokar's former troops, and a few loyalist Jaffa from other worlds that had belonged to Apophis, had ruthlessly crushed any dissent and laid waste to any towns of villages that showed any hint of resistance. Now some time later Chulak was peaceful and did not require martial law but the people still largely hated and despised anyone that wore the symbol of Sokar on their forehead and the looks the ships crew received when they ringed to the surface were not pleasant. You could not even enjoy a nice mug of beer at a local tavern because of the suspicion that the barkeep had spat in it, or worse.

The Minor Goa'uld that Apophis had placed as governor of Chulak preferred to rule from the city that lay a few miles from the chappa'ai so the Ha'tak was commanded by a Jaffa Master of proven ability and loyalty who was nonetheless considered to be getting a little long in the tooth for a front-line command. Master Mem'pher had tried to keep his crew at full efficiency for a while but he was past one hundred and sixty years old and didn't really have the energy for constantly screaming at them any more and couldn't bring himself to execute all but the worst offenders against their standing orders preferring to have a grand-fatherly chat that sometimes worked. For the most part these days Mem'pher could be found in the command chair of the ships pel'tak, or bridge, half asleep and day-dreaming of battles fought long ago in his youth.

It might have been different if they were still ruled by Sokar himself, Apophis was harsh, and by no means exactly a fair ruler, but Sokar enjoyed hurting people far more and it didn't take much of an excuse for him to have a Jaffa tortured to death so everyone always made sure not to give him any reason whatsoever. Sometimes he had done so anyway merely on a whim, telling his underlings everyone should have a hobby to pass the time, his appropriation of the identity of the most evil of human deities was from that perspective fairly understandable to anyone that knew him.

'Master Mem'pher' a Jaffa reported loudly, the voice of his communications officer snapping the Jaffa Master from his daydreams. 'A signal from our guards at the Chappa'ai' the Jaffa continued, 'a Tau'ri machine has emerged from the ring of the gods and is engaging our forces.'

Mem'pher broke out into a grin. 'The Tau'ri are come?' he said wondrously. 'Finally a battle to fight!' he declared joyfully.

'Shall I move us into position above the Chappa'ai to provide fire-support if necessary?' the Jaffa piloting the Ha'tak asked.

'Do so immediately' Mem'pher ordered. 'The Tau'ri machines of war are powerful and our forces on the ground will likely need our aid' he said before turning to another. 'Have Death Gliders manned and launched' he commanded. 'Send them to the planet.'

'Another signal from the surface' the first Jaffa announced, 'more machines are coming through the chappa'ai and a number of the Ta'uri in the great metal armour suits we have heard of' he told Mem'pher. 'Our warriors are being quickly overwhelmed' he said.

'The Tau'ri use tricks and their magicks to compensate for a lack of warrior blood in their veins or the true strength that comes from faith in the gods' Mem'pher declared with an uncharacteristic sneer.

'Our first Death Gliders are launching, it will be a while before more are ready' another Jaffa reported regretfully. Only a few pilots were in the bays as most should have been, others were running to their craft but from all over the ship. 'We are moving towards the Chappa'ai' he added as the Ha'tak shifted from its usual orbit and into a position where it could bombard the enemy invader.

The old Jaffa focused his mind, this could very well be the last battle he ever fought, if he defeated the Tau'ri here then Apophis might grant him an overdue retirement and a better home back on Delmak. 'Have two hundred of our best Jaffa armed and sent to ring platforms ready to be transported to Chulak' he ordered. 'Our brothers will need reinforcement' he said.

'Master Mem'pher, a hyperspace window is opening' the ships pilot announced urgently as the sensors detected a ship emerging from the subspace dimension that allowed craft to cross the galaxy faster than light.

'Are we expecting any ships today?' Mem'pher queried.

'No and I am not familiar with the type of vessel that has appeared' the pilot replied. 'It is bearing down upon us.'

'Raise shields' Mem'pher ordered.

'Shall I turn the ship to orientate more cannon against it?' the pilot asked. The shape of a Ha'tak meant that it had restricted firing angles on the main guns and could best engage another vessel either directly above or below it.

'Not yet, our priority is still to support our ground troops as yet and we do not know the identity of this ship either, nor if it is even hostile' Mem'pher responded. He knew of the commander of a ship, an Al'kesh in that case, that had once blown another unidentified craft out of the skies on impulse only to discover afterwards it was carrying expensive replacement parts too large to transport through a gate. Apophis had the Jaffa responsible for destroying the ship flayed alive, offering a salutary warning to the trigger-happy not to shoot everything that moved for fear of the consequence of bad judgement.

'We are receiving a communication from the unknown vessel' a Jaffa announced. 'Text only' he said. 'The language is an early dialect of Goa'uld used mainly by priests, I am translating to modern forms.'

'What does it say?' Mem'pher wanted to know.

The Jaffa started to read the message aloud. 'This is the Tau'ri warship Prometheus. Waste one final prayer to your false gods and prepare to kiss your mikta goodbye' he said before looking up from his console again.

Mem'pher blinked. 'Tau'ri _warship_?' he queried in confusion.

Aboard the USAF _Prometheus_ Colonel William Ronson was still not entirely sure if sending that message was all that professional, but it had relieved a lot of tension in the crew and at heart he wasn't as humourless as casual observers of his style of command would have assumed. 'Spin up A and B Rotary Staff-Cannon, charge Plasma Beams, put reactors to one-hundred percent rated output and prepare to divert power from sublight engines to shields' he ordered.

'A and B Rippers spinning up, Beams charging' Major Gant responded.

'I want all point-defence lasers capable of firing in a forward arc to target that Ha'tak' Ronson ordered. 'Every little bit more we can drain from the shield on that thing the better off we are' he said. The laser turrets were primarily intended to deal with enemy fighters but they were still fairly powerful in their own right, proven able to burn through the cydonium hull of a Sectoid ship at just over twenty kilometres and that was inside an atmosphere. The X-303 mounted sixteen of them and all but four could be fired directly ahead if required.

'We're in optimum range Sir' the pilot Major Deluise reported.

'Ready to fire at your command' Major Gant added, fingers poised over her console.

'Open fire' Ronson ordered.

The twelve laser beams struck the shields of the Ha'tak first, though only a tiny fraction of a second before the bright green beams of the elerium plasma cannon scorched against the shield of the Goa'uld mothership. Even combined they expended less energy against the shield than a salvo from another Ha'tak would have done and only succeeded in draining the protective bubble to a small degree before they cut out and began to recharge.

Then the two continual streams of Heavy Staff-Cannon bolts struck their mark and started hammering against the shield of the Goa'uld mothership.

'What is it?' Mem'pher demanded to know, watching as the rapid-fire plasma splashed against the shields.

'It appears to be Staff-Cannon fire but the rate of fire is impossibly high' a Jaffa reported. 'Shields holding' he added.

'Return fire Mem'pher ordered and the main guns of the Ha'tak which could be directed against _Prometheus_ started to open up in earnest.

Colonel Ronson resisted the urge to flinch as the main guns of the Ha'tak started slamming against his own shields. Both ships engaged actually used basically similar shields although the X-303 had both the upgrades used by Anubis and some tricks learn from the Sectoids to bolster hers. Even so hundreds of megatons worth of firepower was now being bought to bear on Prometheus and her shields were starting to drain fast as a result. 'Put everything not going into the weapons into the shield generator' he ordered.

'Diverting all available power from engines and non-essential systems' Major Gant responded.

The twelve lasers could recharge and fire every four seconds, the two more powerful elerium plasma beams every six, and they all continued to do so as fast as they could but it was the unrelenting "Ripper" Rotary Staff-Cannon that were the ones starting to cause bigger problems for the Ha'tak. Not only were they firing at near machine-gun rates, constantly impacting and draining more power with each bolt, but because both streams were continually hitting almost the same spot, only a couple of metres apart, they were causing a localised weak point in the shield bubble that the Ha'tak was trying to compensate for but was gradually failing to do so effectively.

'Sir the Ha'tak is launching large numbers of Death Gliders' Gant reported.

'Lasers disengage the Ha'tak, target the Death Gliders instead' Ronson responded and the point-defence turrets turned to obey his orders. _Prometheus_ should be able to knock them down quickly and easily like they had the Bedrosian fighters before and he didn't want his ship to be pecked to death by a few dozen Goa'uld Fighters.

The bright green beams from the plasma cannon fired again, striking just between the two lines of fire from the Rippers, the latter almost seeming to be acting as tracer fire. 'Burn through you bastards' Major Gant muttered under her breath. 'This should work dammit.'

Jaffa Master Mem'Pher watched in dismay as the Tau'ri vessel started shooting down his fighters almost effortlessly. There was no avoiding the energy weapons it was using against them and every touch from the weapons caused another Death Glider to flare into an explosion. 'What is our shield strength?' he asked.

'Shield strength is good overall but is fast weakening at the point the Tau'ri are firing at' a Jaffa replied. 'The generator is struggling to keep up with the drain at one point, it was not designed to do this' he said with some apparent nervousness about the situation.

'Rotate the ship!' Mem'pher shouted, fifty years ago he would have done this sooner in the battle he realised.

'Too late' the Jaffa replied.

Elerium-powered plasma beam cannon struck out again from Prometheus against the weakness in the Ha'tak's shield bubble and after it resisted a split second longer they finally burned through and then unimpeded by the shield cut through its hull like a knife through butter. Jack O'Neill had always liked the description given them as being "Relativistic beams of superheated kinetic death" and they lived up to the name by searing a path deep into the mothership, holing compartment after compartment, severing powerlines and destroying two banks of control crystals.

'Gottcha' Major Deluise declared triumphantly as atmosphere started to vent from the Ha'tak and one of the main guns stopped firing. 'She's turning' he said.

'Sir the enemy shield is starting to collapse completely where we holed it' Gant said, trying to sound less excited than she felt. 'The Rippers are through!' she declared as the streams of fire started impacting the enemy hull, chunks being visibly blasted off. 'Beams firing again!'

While the Rotary Staff-Cannon pulverised the plasma beams once again bit deep, reaching further into the Ha'tak to a major power conduit.

'Secondary explosion' Ronson said with satisfaction as a section of the motherships hull at least fifty yards across blew out.

'Enemy capital ship no longer manoeuvring, I think we either got their drive or their controls' Delouise announced. 'Jesus can you see this!' he said in awe as Jaffa bodies began to be vented out into space along with the air.

'Steady Major' Ronson chided him.

The amount of return fire was starting to slacken off considerably as more internal explosions could be seen through the missing section of hull. Still pouring fire into the Ha'tak Prometheus was carving deeper and deeper into the flesh of its enemy, eventually something had to give.

'Her shield just crashed out completely Sir' Gant reported. 'I think we overloaded one emitter and blew a couple more all to hell' she said, looking at her console. 'They're still trying to make a fight of it though' she continued as the Ha'tak continued to fire.

'Plasma beams cease fire' Colonel Ronson ordered, they burned precious elerium and it was a waste to keep using them now. 'Major Deluise hose that thing down with the Rippers' he ordered.

'Yes Sir' the pilot replied with a grin and turned the X-303 so as to start sweeping the twin streams of plasma-bolts across the Ha'tak hull, cratering it at first and then cutting a valley across its surface as the outer hull broke up under the onslaught.

'Her reactors have just gone off line' Major Gant reported. 'All enemy guns have ceased fire, she's dead in the water.'

'All guns cease fire on the mothership' Ronson ordered. 'Are all the Death Gliders it launched destroyed?' he asked.

'The skies are clear Sir' Major Gant told him.

'Good' Ronson replied. 'Prepare the F-302's for launch, we'll send air-support to our ground troops' he said. 'In the meantime back us off and teleport a nuclear warhead aboard that hulk' he said. 'It's too large to let it fall onto Chulak in one piece like that' he noted. 'Well done people' he added.

'Sir we're receiving a coded transmission from Commander Sharp on the surface, our troops have secured the stargate and are preparing to advance towards their target once we confirm orbital superiority' Major Gant told him.

Colonel Ronson smiled. 'Reply with this signal. "Prometheus holds the high ground, walk safely in the shadow of a Titan".'

'Very classical of you Sir' Delouise told him.

'Thank you Major, now back us off like I said' Ronson told him. 'That thing isn't going to blow itself to kingdom come' he pointed out.

Aboard the broken mothership the pel'tak was somehow still intact and pressurised and Mem'pher watched the Tau'ri vessel move away. 'I was hoping for a more glorious demise than this' he told the Jaffa with him moments before a 1.2 gigaton warhead was teleported aboard. Whether it was glorious was perhaps debateable but it did turn out fairly spectacular as Chulak, already blessed by the light of two suns resulting from being in a binary star system, momentarily had a third.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Sokar came up with a few new tricks (cloaked Ha'taks and his iris-destroying particle-beam weapon for example) so I reasoned he must have had a Reseach and Development Team working on new technologies for him which Apophis inherited along with Delmak. The zat-proof armour and advanced helmet were seen in episode 3:07 Deadman Switch where it was worn by a Bounty-Hunter working for Sokar named Aris Boch. We never saw it again so I'm going with the idea it was a prototype that Sokar gave him. Jaffa are cheap, disposable staff-fodder, and the Goa'uld never really seemed to put a lot of effort into giving them better equipment in the show, but here with a major war running on for years now and XSGCOM continually demonstrating the value of good equipment Apophis has decided to take the lesson to heart. Apophis did previously train some of his soldiers in Earth-style military tactics as was seen in episode 3:09 Rules of Engagement. He hated the Tau'ri but after his Jaffa got whupped in fight after fight he did show enough intelligence to adapt._

_I can't say my Goa'uld is all that great but Chappa'nok'kek really should roughly translate as "Death from the Gate" as far as I can tell. It seemed a good name for the "Needle Threader" Gate-Fighter seen in episode 3:01 Into the Fire. The Jaffa Pilot Ronan was seen in episode 7:22 Lost City._

_My notion that you can weaken and pierce a shield at a localised point when the shield itself is still up is based on watching the effects of both the weapons satellite against Prometheus in episode 9:15 Ethon and the Ori Beams against Ha'tak in episode 9:20 Camelot . In both cases the shield bubble is visibly still there when the beam burns through. Goa'uld Ha'tak pound each others shields down, clubbing each other with very powerful plasma blasts albeit with a low rate of fire, it's not exactly a matter of finesse and takes a while because you need to knock down the whole shield._


	42. Chapter 42

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – April 2003**

Five minutes into the tale the Marine Sergeant was still animatedly recounting his version of the fighting on Chulak to a rapt audience of those who hadn't been there, better than a dozen base personnel were gathered around the table SG-3 was sat at. 'So we're still stuck in the forest a few miles from the stargate trying to force the rest of the garrison to either surrender or pull back and then the Commander gets pissed-off and requests close-air-support' he said, 'I mean we're thinking the F-302's are going to make a return visit after chasing off the Death Gliders that attacked us earlier but no, it's better than that' he declared. 'Freaking _Prometheus_ comes barrelling in, maybe a couple of hundred feet above the treetops, and does a goddamn strafing-run with her Rippers' the marine exclaimed miming the event be sweeping his left hand over the table, pretending to shoot up the salt and pepper pots. 'Swear to God' he promised, raising his right hand. 'I don't know what the Jaffa thought about getting strafed by a ship twice the length of a football field but when that big mother turned in the sky and came around for another pass they must have lost some faith in Apophis because they all ran like hell' he told them, starting to laugh.

'You should have seen the damage those rotary staff-cannon did' Breytenbach the X-COM member of SG-3 added, his South African accent as noticeable as the metal claw which had replaced the forearm he lost to a Sectoid plasma weapon. 'Trees were turned to kindling, afterwards it looked like someone had put a fire-break through the forest' he said, reaching across his food tray for the salt with his good hand. 'It was at least a klick long, like a tornado had swept through' he said.

'Oh yeah' the Marine Sergeant agreed, 'and then Sharp orders the additional X-COM guys he bought in specially for the mission to chase 'em down so they don't get a chance to stop running and regroup' he said. 'There's like fifty dudes in Powered Armour running through the trees and they're all howling and shit, got the external speakers on the suits cranked all the way up' he continued. 'Christ only knows what the Jaffa thought, maybe they figured it was demons?' he suggested, they were know to be superstitious as hell and powered-armour was deployed infrequently as a rule. 'Either way I hear the Jaffs kept running until they ran into a river they couldn't get across.'

'So what happened then?' a technician asked curiously.

'Oh, half of the rest of us headed for the factory where they were making those new fancy Death Gliders that come through the gate, while the others went to link up with Bra'tac and the Free Jaffa who had arrived to take the city' the marine replied. 'It fell pretty fast, the locals didn't like the garrison, they were mainly Sokar's old guys, so they weren't in much of a mood to back them up.'

'No I meant what happened to the Jaffa that ran to the river' the technician told him.

'We killed them all' another voice spoke up, everyone turning to the speaker who was sat alone at the next table. The man in an X-COM jumpsuit with Captain's Rank Insignia on it was still writing on a notepad, not having looked up from it, and had delivered the line dispassionately. He was tall and muscular, almost bulky in fact like a lot of the X-COM troops, even if they weren't like that to start with the steroids and other pharmaceuticals, accompanied by a lot of exercise, soon tended to leave them that way.

'Didn't they want to surrender Sir?' the technician queried.

'We didn't really give them much of a chance' the X-COM Captain replied evenly, still writing on his pad.

'Oh' the technician responded before looking back to the others. 'Who's he?' he whispered.

'New guy assigned to the SGC' one of the others, an Army Ranger whispered back, 'transferred in the day before yesterday, Chulak was his first off-world operation' he said. 'I think his name's Gaston.'

'Great, another hard-core X-COM psycho' someone muttered disparagingly then realised the company. 'No offence meant there Brey' he told the South African awkwardly.

'None taken, but I've gone soft hanging around with you wimps the last couple of years' Breytenbach replied with a smile. With his injury he would never have been cleared for missions against Loki's forces so after having to prove he could still do his job well enough to fight Jaffa Breytebach had remained with the SGC for some time now, not transferring back to the other alien war like others had done.

Jake Gaston put down his notepad and pen and resumed operations against what purported to be a pasta salad but which he suspected was a failed cloning experiment of some kind. Next time he would opt to screw the "healthy option" and go for the steak and fries instead he decided, forking the food into his mouth. The throng next to him eventually broke up as the war stories petered out and the canteen began to empty out as people returned to duty. Gaston had a couple of hours before he was due to attend a mission briefing so he didn't hurry to leave himself, for one thing the pasta was putting up considerable resistance, being harder to chew up than a few hundred Jaffa.

The fighting on Chulak had in fact been pretty hard, the soldiers of Apophis determined and generally well-equipped by their standards. Eventually though superior Tau'ri firepower had crushed any resistance, hovertanks and powered-armour, plus unusually air-support for once, proving more than a match for anything the enemy could offer up against them. A number of ordinary Death Gliders had tried to stop their advance from the stargate but the F-302X _Grim Reapers_ launched by _Prometheus_ had soon established Air Superiority and then Air Supremacy over the battlefield, superior weapons, manoeuvrability and engines would have given them a massive edge even without their shields and the Grim Reapers lived up to their name, scything Death Gliders from the skies with ease. Later three of the newer model goa'uld fighters, the version that could travel via stargate had joined the fray, scrambled to try and stop Tau'ri robot hovertanks advancing on the factory that produced them. Shielded and hugging the dirt they proved to be much harder to deal with but eventually they were shot down too, their modified Tel'tak shields able to absorb Laser-Cannon fire from the F-302X but no match for the Plasma Beams they carried too.

Unfortunately it seemed that most of the gate-fighters were off-world on a training exercise, along with their commanding officer, but the factory which made them was at least destroyed which would put a brake on the ability of Apophis to deploy them in number for a while. The facility had been shielded, but nowhere near as strongly as the Ha'tak the X-303 had already taken out and the Tau'ri Capital Ship had simply pounded the shield with her Rippers until it collapsed in one spot then surgically shot out the shield generator inside the complex with her beams. The generator had exploded, causing a fair deal of collateral damage and a number of deaths among the slave-labour force, but it was better than nuking the entire place to radioactive rubble in terms of minimising casualties. It also gave the attacking forces the opportunity to search for a retrieve anything interesting from the place, _Prometheus_ on its way back to Earth was now carrying a couple of half-finished gate-fighters, as well as her normal complement of F-302's, and the Free-Jaffa had hauled off all the Staff-Cannon they could.

As Gaston recalled the fighting, and wondered if he would ever be allowed to publish his memoirs because they'd make for a great read, he noticed a girl in civilian clothes was collecting trays from the racks by the door. They were deposited there by those leaving the mess-hall and she seemed to be taking them away to the kitchen to be cleaned. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt along with what looked like a hairband crossed with what was almost a strangely ornate silver tiara, the latter being excessively showy and ornate for the surroundings Gaston decided. He noticed she also had something which might have been a old-fashioned CD Walkman clipped to her belt before his thoughts drifted again and he wondered if his green Jell-O dessert was going to disappoint as much as the rest of the meal.

A couple of guys in USAF fatigues got up from a table on the other side of the room and headed for the exit leaving their trays behind on the table. They were half-way there when the girl emerged from the kitchen again and spotted the discarded trays causing her to adopt an angered expression.

Gaston expected her to call out to them and complain but instead she reached out one hand roughly in their direction and then swept it to one side. This in itself just looked odd but what really astonished him was that simultaneously an empty chair suddenly shot across the room of its own accord and stopped in front of the two USAF personnel barring their way out. They turned around and the girl scowled at them before pointing to their table, tapping her foot in annoyance, after a couple of seconds they sighed resignedly and went back to collect their trays to deposit them on the racks like they were supposed to, the girl now looking slightly smug.

The girl then noticed Gaston staring at her, nobody else was paying much attention they had seen it all before and at least she hadn't fired a fork past their heads into the door as a warning shot. 'What are you looking at?' she asked the X-COM officer sternly, glaring back at him, hands now on hips.

'Cassandra Fraser, apparently the most intimidating busgirl in the galaxy' Gaston replied. He wasn't aware of any other human telekinetics so it was a safe bet on her identity, even if the report he read on her hadn't contained a photograph. He did reasonably wonder however why the hell they had her helping out doing this of all things, maybe she was on KP for accidentally frying some poor bastard's brains he wondered, her Psionic abilities were supposed to be in the hundreds and improving with practice.

'Right' Cassie confirmed, her fame amongst those cleared to read files marked above top-secret clearly preceded her. 'Who are you?' she asked the stranger.

'I thought you could just read that straight out of my head?' Gaston replied.

'I can if you give me permission' Cassie replied with a smirk. 'Not allowed to otherwise' she told him.

'Permission denied' Gaston told her quickly, he didn't want anyone or anything rooting around in his thoughts, a couple of etherials and a sectoid officer had done that before and he didn't like it one bit even if he did have fairly good psionic scores and had kept them out after a mental struggle. 'Captain Jake Gaston, just transferred in' he told her.

'Like I really care' Cassandra replied, rolling her eyes. 'Just put your tray in the rack when you leave and don't you _dare_ spill anything on your table' she told him harshly before turning away.

'Yes Ma'am' Gaston responded, starting to grin. He supposed the thing on her head was a neural interface connected to the gadget on her belt which he now assumed was some sort of custom Psionic Amplifier. 'Cute' he said with a chuckle then giving up on his salad started on his dessert with one hand while opening his notebook to a fresh page and starting to write with another.

After he left and Cassandra collected his tray, properly deposited on the racks of course, she found a note on it, or rather a short poem about the prophetess Cassandra of Troy. It was weird but what surprised her more was that after checking on-line she suspected that the new guy had just _written_ the damn thing then and there because while she couldn't find it anywhere after some googling she did discover a book of poetry on called "Lost in Wonder" written by one Jake Gaston. What the hell kind of gung-ho X-COM officer writes poetry anyway, she wondered, before ordering it on a whim.

**Palace of Apophis – Delmak – April 2003**

With the chappa'ai protected by an energy shield and the planet itself defended not only by eight Ha'tak vessels and twenty Al'kesh, but also hundreds of Death Gliders and the great flagship of Apophis himself the Jaffa garrison on Delmak did not think they were likely to see much action during their time there. Indeed Apophis rotated troops from the front lines back to Delmak after their units had been badly mauled and it was considered a place where his loyal regiments could recuperate and train replacements before being sent back into the fray.

They weren't expecting trouble on Delmak but today they were going to get it in spades.

A Jaffa guard walked the perimeter of the palace, staff ready for battle, a zat'nik''el on his wrist holster and alert despite he fact nobody had ever tried to attack the home of his master. The sound of his boots rhythmically hitting the stone floor echoed off the walls as he went and he occasionally passed another guard marching in the other direction, or a human slave busying themselves with the task of keeping the building and its environs spotless.

A flash of light behind him had the Jaffa instantly spin and raise his staff, he stared at the hulking creature stood there which appeared to be wearing green almost organic-looking clothing or armour that covered its whole body except its face. 'Halt in the name of Apophis' the Jaffa thundered, activating his staff, readying it to fire.

The alien looked back at him and began to raise a weapon the Jaffa had not seen before. The guard fired and the orange bolt of plasma impacted the creature in the centre of its chest resulting in nothing but leaving a black mark behind. 'Not good' the Jaffa said with a grimace before the alien aimed his weapon and blew a hole right through both him and his armour, turning much of his torso and the goa'uld prim'ta he carried into bloody mush.

As more and more of the invaders appeared in a flash of light Jaffa horns sounded alert and the palace guard rose to do battle for their god. Meeting their opponents head on, and careless of their losses, Jaffa would usually prefer to die rather than show cowardice or fail their lord and master and just because this new terrible enemy was strange and unknown that did not mean they would break their vows or ignore years of training and centuries of tradition.

Serpent Guards, the elite of the armies of Apophis, skilled warriors of proven loyalty quickly abandoned their heavy and clumsy ceremonial helmets and engaged the foe. They fought with tenacity and near suicidal courage but they soon discovered that the armour of the green-clad beasts was as invulnerable to zat'nik'tel fire as the new body armour their god had begun to produce and it was even better at resisting staff-bolts.

Other aliens began to appear, wearing long hooded cloaks that almost resembled those favoured by Anubis, or Sokar who had himself once ruled this world, they seemed to be acting as officers directing the others though without making a sound. They fell more easily to Jaffa weapons but where they went the defenders nearby began to feel fear gnaw at their souls and the terror caused some to drop their weapons and flee, only to wonder later why they did so.

The Jaffa did not know who they were fighting but a supposed minor goa'uld in the service of Apophis, who also lived in the palace, knew very well what they were when he caught a glimpse of them. A Tok'ra infiltrator he had heard of the other enemies of the Tau'ri and realised that the servants of the false god Apophis were now up against the warriors of another deity from the many human pantheons, Loki the Asgard, trickster god and renegade. Mutons, genetically engineered super-warriors and Ethereals, powerful psionic creations born of ancient Asgard genetic stock, now stalked the great halls and corridors, fighting the guards and apparently searching for something judging by their behaviour.

Heavy Plasma Rifles that had more firepower than a light staff-cannon thundered in the marble-clad corridors as the Mutons ploughed on through the palace, smashing any resistance aside with ease. Apophis himself was in orbit aboard his flagship otherwise even more Jaffa guards would have been present and the slaughter even greater. Elerium grenades made short work of heavy doors and internal walls as Loki's troops continued on their way, searching rooms but seemingly ignoring the treasures and technology they found there. Mere gold and jewels nor primitive goa'uld devices were of any interest to the aliens, they wanted to seize something special, something they knew was there but had been unable to get a firm sensor lock upon.

Thousands more Jaffa rallied to the palace from the city that surrounded it, eventually sheer weight of numbers began to tell as the invaders, who numbered less than a hundred in total, were faced by a force already now twenty times that number and rising fast. Even so Jaffa losses were approaching horrific levels and then leaped clear over that point as the few Muton soldiers so-equipped started to fire off their "Blaster-Bomb" miniature guided missiles to hold back the Jaffa tide, small nuclear explosions killing scores at a time, some simply incinerated by the fireball, others smashed by the blast waves.

Ethereals scanned the minds of any they came upon, looking for information that might lead them to their target. Although the loyal warriors of the System Lords could not be themselves be easily mind-controlled, albeit it mainly because of interference from the prim'ta within them rather than unswerving faith, the human slaves also in the palace could and those that were picked up discarded zat'nik'tels or staffs and began fighting the Jaffa themselves under the psionic command of the aliens.

'What are these orac?' a Jaffa exclaimed as a muton finally fell to a volley of staff-blasts, the creature taking better than fifteen hits to finally bring it down. Orac, unspeakable monsters, was a good name for them he decided. His group had been over a hundred strong when it arrived at the palace and was now less than twenty-five, a trail of corpses marking the route they had taken.

'I do not know brother' another replied, 'but I will never again tell my young son that if he doesn't say his prayers an Unas will come for him in the dark' he said. 'These demons would use Unas as snacks' he declared. 'I have faced the cross-marked warriors of the Tau'ri Warlord Sharp in battle and even _they_ are nothing by comparison' he said, picking up the muton's rifle but finding himself unable to use it.

'We should wait for the staff-cannon to arrive' another Jaffa opined, several others nodding their heart-felt agreement. 'I was told they were going to be bought via rings and would be here soon' he noted.

'And let these things despoil the holy palace of our god longer than they have to?' another responded deridingly. 'It is our duty to wipe them out and cleanse this place of their presence' he declared hefting his staff. 'They are strong but we can make them fall' he told the others, indicating the one nearby. 'And if we are to die could any of us hope to ever meet a more mighty foe?' he asked rhetorically. 'Come Jaffa, this is a glorious battle' he exclaimed.

'Then you go first' the Jaffa who had suggested they wait for the staff-cannon told him. He was far from being afraid despite the situation but it was stupid to throw your life away for a building when more effective heavy weapons would be arriving soon. Several others laughed at his scathing delivery of the line.

'Cowardly shol'va' the Jaffa who wanted to go on immediately sneered back at him. The warrior the insult was directed against bristling at the accusation he was a traitor. If the cannon had not been coming he would have done his duty and gone on without them but in the circumstances he would rather not gift the enemy more easy kills for little purpose. 'I will show my loyalty by going on even if nobody else does' the Jaffa who wanted to press on declared and headed down the corridor, pausing to spit on the corpse of the muton on the way.

'He desperately wishes promotion' the Jaffa who had mentioned fighting the X-COM humans before commented. 'If he ever achieves his aim I have heard tale of a tradition amongst the armies of the Tau'ri called "fragging" which we may wish to adopt' he suggested.

Eventually the alien invaders found their goal secured in a vault, it was a well-timed discovery because the Jaffa had finally deployed the heavier weapons they needed to fight back effectively and were pushing hard. A muton blew open the vault door and an Ethereal went through and seized their prize, signalling their success it then beamed out with the others of its kind leaving the disposable mutons to fight to the last. Apophis would be left with the weaponry they had been carrying but without elerium to power them they were useless as he discovered to his anger when he had them analysed.

In orbit the Asgard ship Loki had taken with him when he left his people activated its faster-than-light drive and a hyperspace window opened. As it did so the advanced cloaking device it had been using powered down and now detectable by the goa'uld vessels the ship was under fire as it accelerated away into sub-space. Its Asgard engines were far too swift for a pursuit to be worthwhile even if the Ha'tak of Apophis could have kept track of it which they couldn't after less than thirty seconds, the ship already a vast distance away.

Less than an hour later on Tartarus the chappa'ai there activated as an incoming wormhole formed between that planet and somewhere else in the galaxy. Like the one on Delmak an energy shield prevented anyone coming through uninvited but despite this a figure appeared in front of it, a shimmering hologram of a small form stood before both the event horizon of the chappa'ai and the forcefield in front of it.

Anubis was soon told of the visitor who had requested an audience with him from the Jaffa nearby and uncharacteristically hurried to the chamber where the chappa'ai stood. 'I am Anubis' he said to the hologram.

'Greetings' the hologram replied. 'I wish to discuss an alliance' it said.

Anubis looked the image up and down. 'The Asgard wish an alliance?' he responded. 'I doubt that.'

'I am not affiliated with the High Council of my race' the hologram told him. 'I am Loki, I consider myself freelance' the Asgard renegade told him. 'We have much to offer each other Anubis, I have resources and technologies you do not and my monitoring of your war with Apophis indicates you will need my assistance to prevent him taking over this galaxy.'

'And why would you wish me to do that?' Anubis wanted to know.

'For the same reason I would help him fight you if the strategic situation were reversed' Loki replied honestly. 'I do not wish goa'uld unity under one banner, collectively you would be a threat to my race and though they think me a traitor I have only their best interests at heart' he declared.

'Why should I take this proposal seriously?' Anubis asked. 'This could easily be a trick.'

'Realising this would be an issue I have arranged a act of good faith' Loki replied. 'Forces under my command have earlier this day attacked the palace of your enemy Apophis and slew many of his Jaffa' he said. 'This was not however their goal' he continued. 'I have an item in my possession I know you have been seeking and offer it as a token.'

'What item?' Anubis wanted to know.

'The Eye of Apophis' Loki told him. 'I will have it delivered to the world of your choosing assuming you are not likely to lower the forcefield here to allow me to present it in person' he said.

Anubis was more than surprised by this revelation. 'The fourth Eye' he said. 'If I could only obtain the other two I could wreak havoc on the fleets of Apophis' he declared.

Loki crossed his thin arms. 'I have also recently obtained the Eye of Tiamat, or at least I will have it once I can arrange collection' he said.

'You cannot' Anubis responded doubtfully. 'That is in the hands of the Tau'ri' he noted.

'Your failure to obtain it it from them by brute force and intimidation may have failed but I had subtler means at my disposal and have infiltrated their world' Loki replied. 'Their leaders do not even know it is missing' he said with a definite degree of smugness to his tone. 'I will hand over the Eye of Tiamat also, but in return I wish one of your newest Ha'tak class vessels with all the Asgard technology upgrades I know you obtained from your interrogation of Thor.'

'You are well informed' Anubis told him. 'And if you are able to deliver what you say you can you have a bargain' he agreed.

'Excellent' Loki replied. 'In the meantime I have some news that may be of interest' he said. 'You may have heard the rumours of the return of Egeria to the Tok'ra?' he asked.

'Unsubstantiated rumours I discounted' Anubis responded.

'It is true' Loki told him, earning a growl from Anubis. 'Perhaps a mutually beneficial exchange of information is in order' he said. 'I will tell you of Egeria, and some cloning techniques and related technologies that may prove useful, and in return you will explain how it is exactly that you have made so many improvements to your ships using what is clearly the science of the Ancients.'

'Once the Eye of Apophis is in my hand and you have proved your trustworthiness I think we will have much to talk about' Anubis told Loki.

Some time afterwards when the new alliance between Anubis and Loki became known the news was greeted with dismay everywhere. Only one man made a joke about it, as according to Jack O'Neill it could be the start of a beautiful fiend-ship.

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – April 2003**

Elizabeth Weir looked around the briefing room, she was there acting in the capacity of representative of the International Oversight Advisory and had been granted emergency authority to deal with the situation immediately before it escalated into an all-out diplomatic crisis. 'So let me see if I've got this straight' she said, 'you were visited by the ghost of Daniel Jackson in the SGC elevator?' she asked Colonel O'Neill. He was sat next to Major Carter with General Hammond and Commander Sharp sat across from them and Weir at the head of the table, surrounded by papers and reports.

'Not so much a ghost, as an ascended being in human form' O'Neill replied, 'but I suppose as a description "ghost" is close enough for government work' he said.

'And you didn't think it strange that the apparition of a dead team-member would appear to you in this way?' Weir queried.

O'Neill shrugged. 'It wouldn't even make my top three weird-ass experiences' he told her. 'Maybe it'd scrape into the top five though?' he pondered, thinking about it.

'We have experienced ascended beings taking human form previously' Major Carter spoke up in his defence. 'Oma Desala at the Temple on Kheb appeared as a sort-of human-shaped spirit...'

'And then there was that Orlin guy who had the hots for you too' O'Neill interjected.

'I was coming to him Sir' Carter responded, 'I wouldn't have necessarily phrased it that way though' she added. 'Anyhow Daniel appearing isn't exactly an event entirely outside our experience' she said.

'Of course at first I thought the robot version had sneaked onto the elevator somehow' O'Neill admitted. 'It was an Occam's Razor sort of thing' he said. 'Of course the fact I could wave my hand through him pretty much knocked the sneaky android thing on the head straight away.'

Weir closed her eyes for a second and collected her thoughts. 'Ignoring that part of the tale for a moment you say that the spirit of Daniel Jackson told you that Anubis now had possession of five of the six Eye Jewels and that, and I quote from your written statement "Each is powerful on its own but to use them in combination increases that power ten fold" correct?' she asked.

'That's what he said' O'Neill confirmed. 'The only one he's missing now is the Eye of Ra which Daniel says is probably still hidden on Abydos.'

'Which is why you want to take your team there to get it before Anubis does?' Weir checked.

O'Neill nodded. 'Right again' he said.

'Presumably you mentioned at that time to him that it would be difficult for Anubis to have the other five given that Apophis still has one and another was locked up at Area 51' Weir asked him.

'I threw that into the conversation which is when he told me to ask the Tok'ra if they'd had any recent news from their agents on Delmak and when the last time somebody checked the doohicky of Tiamoth at Edwards was' O'Neill replied.

'Tiamat' Weir corrected him. 'So did you?'

'Yeah' Colonel O'Neill confirmed. 'I sent Jacob a message over subspace and when I got a reply saying he had just heard that Loki of all people had stolen the Eye of Apophis I decided it might be worth mentioning to General Hammond and Commander Sharp that the Tiamat one needed looking at.'

Weir rubbed her temples, she could definitely feel a headache coming on. 'You didn't explain why you thought so?' she asked.

'No they'd have thought I was nuts' O'Neill responded. 'Right?' he asked the two senior officers.

'Probably' General Hammond admitted.

'_More_ nuts' Sharp told him. 'As it was I asked an X-COM scientist named Zelenka who was already at Area 51 to check on the Eye and when he got back to me saying it had been replaced by a damn fake... I may have overreacted' he said.

Elizabeth Weir took a deep breath. 'Commander you ordered fifty armed X-COM Troopers to immediately teleport to Area 51 from their own bases using the Aschen supplied transport platforms, and locked down a United States Air Force facility.'

'It's not like they shot anyone' Sharp said in his defence.

'Does the phrase "National Sovereignty" mean anything to you?' Weir asked him incredulously. 'You had everyone on the base mind-probed, including the security staff' she said. 'Your soldiers wouldn't let anyone leave until they were screened.'

'I only sent United States Military personnel on secondment to X-COM' Sharp noted in his defence. 'It's not like I dropped a platoon from the PRC in there or anything' he told her.

Weir stared at him, was that the best he had to offer? 'They still didn't have one ounce of jurisdiction to take over Area 51 and _you_ didn't have the authority to tell them to' she declared.

'We caught the son-of-a-bitch that stole the thing didn't we?' Sharp asked rhetorically. 'And two other NID bastards working with him' he continued. 'If you'd let us properly screen everyone that worked there like I advised we wouldn't be in this situation' he said.

General Hammond felt the need to rise to the defence of the USAF. 'Do the Russians let X-COM mind-probe everyone at Yamantau Commander?' he asked Sharp, knowing full well they didn't. The Russian equivalent to Area 51 was still run from Moscow with X-COM only "guests" at the facility.

'No' Sharp admitted, 'but _they_ check out their own people with the equipment we provided' he said. 'All we got from the US Government was a load of crap about not wanting to violate the right to privacy of US citizens and a flimsy reassurance that everyone that was cleared to work at Area 51 was fully screened' he noted with a snort of derision. 'The rogue NID assholes we caught were part of the team that screened the damn applicants!' he exclaimed, rolling his eyes.

Weir checked her notes. 'I see that after you magnanimously decided to hand back control of Area 51 to the United States Air Force your troops then dragged the three suspects to the transport platforms and performed what you have ironically termed in your report "Extraordinary Rendition" by taking them to the X-COM Base in Poland for more in-depth questioning' she said.

'We gave them back a couple of hours later, they weren't even waterboarded or put in orange jumpsuits' Sharp replied sardonically.

'No but they were subjected to psionic interrogation' Weir reminded him curtly.

'We had to make sure they weren't acting under alien control of some kind' Sharp told her. 'We also checked for Goa'uld brainwashing.'

'Your people shot them with a zat gun' Weir responded flatly.

'That does actually work against Goa'uld brainwashing' Major Carter felt the need to point out.

'See' Sharp told Weir, it made a decent enough excuse for doing it anyway he thought. 'None of the stupid bastards knew they were indirectly working for a damn alien, they thought they were doing it for the good of their country, well the NID guys did, the scientist who stole the Eye of Tiamat and swapped it for a copy they had made up also got two millions dollars for his trouble.'

'Doctor Hugh Bricksdale' Weir read from her file. 'Once returned to the United States he was placed in detention awaiting someone to figure out what they were going to do with him.'

'I could make a few suggestions' Sharp muttered.

'Regardless the question now remains what do we do now?' Weir asked rhetorically, looking around the room.

'Daniel said that Loki snagged the two Eyes and is giving them to Anubis' O'Neill replied. 'They've probably got some kind of evil rat-bastard support group thing going on' he said.

'With Anubis on the back-foot in his war with Apophis this is the ideal time for Loki to get the best deal from him' General Hammond reasoned.

Carter nodded. 'Anubis has Ancient Technology that we know the Asgard are interested in' she said. 'That technician of theirs Hermiod crawled all over that Anubis Ha'tak we scored' she noted. 'It's weaponry is effective against Asgard Shields after all and they were considered almost impenetrable to anything short of a small fleet of Goa'uld motherships before.'

'Loki is bound to want a piece of that Ancient action' O'Neill agreed.

'And if Loki can get a ship past all the sensors around Delmak, or the ones we have around Earth, then Anubis might well be interested in getting hold of a _much_ better cloaking device than the ones we've seen before' Carter suggested. 'Our Anubis Ha'tak can detect Goa'uld cloaks but, according to what Daniel told the Colonel, Loki can land a ship here at will.'

'Makes you wonder why he doesn't use the cloak in combat?' Sharp queried.

'Maybe because he doesn't want us to know he's got it?' O'Neill replied.

'Did Doctor Jackson reveal any other information?' Hammond asked.

'No Sir, in fact he seemed surprised that he was allowed to let slip as much as he did' O'Neill answered. 'He said something about not being supposed to interfere in the "mortal planes" and that the others would stop him if he either helped us out directly, or gave away too much intel we shouldn't rightfully have' he said. 'Teal'c thinks the ascended types must have some kind of non-interference Prime Directive like they do on Star Trek.'

'Orlin said as much' Carter agreed.

'We really need to get the Eye of Ra before hooded-cloak boy gets his hands on it' O'Neill said. 'I'll take my team, SG-2 and 3 and some heavy-duty hardware, we can be on Abydos inside the hour' he said.

'If General Hammond agrees then I can say the IOA will also' Weir said.

'I think I get a say on this Doctor Weir' Sharp told her. 'I'm in command of this facility and have the last say on off-world military deployments via the stargate' he said.

Weir adopted a smug expression. 'Not any more Commander, I am recommending that with immediate effect you are relieved of command of the SGC' she said, 'given the circumstances I feel it is very likely the full IOA Committee and the X-COM funding nations will agree' she said.

'_What_?' Sharp shouted, getting to his feet.

'Commander there is no way in hell that X-COM is going to be able to maintain cordial links with the United States Air Force with you here' Weir told him. 'You unilaterally took over another of their bases with no right to do so and you're lucky you _did_ find the people responsible for the theft of the alien artefact during your invasion of Area 51 or else I'm sure that Washington and the Pentagon would be demanding your head on a plate' she said flatly. 'As it is they're likely too embarrassed by the security breach to do more than issue a stern complaint as long you are ousted from Stargate Command' she declared.

'Son-of-a _bitch_' Sharp swore. 'You can't fire my ass' he said. 'You're just a damn bureaucrat!'

'Yes I can' Weir told him seriously. 'I said earlier I had the full authority of the IOA and X-COM is not as autonomous as you would like, certainly not as regards the SGC' she said. 'General Hammond at least in the interim I am returning command of the SGC to you' she told him. 'I imagine the USAF will not object?'

'I'm sure they'll be delighted' Hammond replied. 'Sorry Russell but you stepped way over the mark on this one' he told Sharp.

'So is this when I get escorted from Cheyenne?' Sharp asked Weir coldly.

'You can have all the time you require to pack up your effects Commander' Weir replied. 'For the record as a combat soldier I think you've done an exemplary job' she told him.

'Coming from you that means practically nothing' Sharp replied angrily. 'I'll fight you on this' he told Elizabeth Weir seriously, turning to leave.

'I wouldn't expect any less' Weir replied as he headed for the door.

O'Neill looked to Carter for a second and raised his eyebrows at the turn of events before turning to General Hammond. 'Nice to have you back in charge Sir' he told him honestly.

'Thank you Colonel, I just wish the circumstances were different' Hammond replied before straightening up in his chair. 'SG-1 you have a go on your mission to Abydos' he said. Colonel you have overall command of SG-2 and SG-3 for the duration of operations there' he continued. 'Now get to it son' he ordered.

Commander Russell Sharp stomped through the SGC with an expression on his face that guaranteed nobody would ask why he looked so mad. He knew the news would spread like wildfire anyway so he opted not to do anything rash, better to collect his thoughts first and calm down. As he neared his office he suddenly stopped walking and recalled the advice he had told many X-COM Troopers while training them for battle, if the situation changes radically try and look for new opportunities you can exploit.

Doctor Frasier heard a knock on her door and told whoever it was to come in. 'Commander?' she said in surprise at his unexpected visit. 'Do you want something?' she asked. 'Your booster shots aren't due until the day after tomorrow and I won't give them early you know that' she reminded him.

Sharp stepped inside and closed the door behind him. 'As of five minutes ago I'm no longer in charge of this facility' he told her. 'I don't know what's going to happen with that long-term but I figured that since you're no longer under my command...' he said then paused with an awkward, almost nervous look suddenly on his face. 'Well I thought that since the military protocol that stopped me doing this before is thrown out of the window now...' he continued then paused again. 'Janet can I buy you dinner?' he asked hopefully. 'We could go see a movie or something afterwards' he suggested.

Janet Frasier just stared at him for what seemed to Sharp like an eternity. 'You're kidding?' she asked eventually.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Jake Gaston, who we saw before in the story when he led an X-COM team that helped secure the Anubis Ha'tak Earth came into posession of, was according to X-COM fluff a young officer in the First Alien War (X-COM: UFO Defense) and years later a Senior Officer in the run-up to the Second (X-COM: Terror from the Deep). It's mentioned in the notebook that accompanied the second game that he was a published poet of all things and I thought that was an interesting little characterisation well worth keeping. He'll feature more in the sequel to this story XSGCOM: Terra from the Deep (one of the Atlantis Expedition) and I thought he needed to get in some SGC time first._

_Goa'uld forcefield iris protecting stargates to important worlds were seen on occasion, Tartarus the main base of Anubis had one for example, as did Erebus a planet where Ha'tak were made by Jaffa forced labour. There were six of the Eye jewels/crystals (Apophis, Baal, Balor, Osiris, Ra and Tiamat) and although individually powerful when bought together they could be used to create a super-weapon. Loki doesn't want Apophis dead, or his capital world destroyed, he wants him weakened so the war continues and this is why he didn't just blow a good chunk of Delmak all to hell. He knows the Eyes can supposedly be bought together to help create a powerful weapon, which Anubis wants, but he doesn't actually know just how powerful it really is..._

_Daniel did appear to O'Neill in an elevator to warn him of Anubis and the Eyes in episode 6:22 Full Circle. I just can't imagine the US Government or the USAF taking a temporary X-COM seizure of Area 51 well, regardless of any kind of positive result. Add in the fact that Weir and the IOA don't really like Sharp very much anyway and he was in trouble. He was basically pissed off by the loss of the Eye and then went way too far and suffered the consequences for overdoing the X-COM method of dealing with problems. Hugh Bricksdale was a scientist at Area 51 with access to the store of alien artefacts who was working for The Trust in episode 8:10 Endgame. Osiris has been busy in her infilitration of the rogue NID faction with the help of Frank Simmons. Something for the Sharp/Janet shippers at the end there (if there are such a thing), I've been planning that a while._


	43. Chapter 43

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Great Pyramid – Abydos – April 2003**

Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Ferretti was grateful to be on this mission, it meant that his team as well as SG-1 were spared the chaos back home. When they headed out through the stargate the SGC was almost falling apart as the X-COM personnel went universally apeshit and only a direct order from Commander Sharp to the non US Military personnel to obey General Hammond had prevented a major crisis in the command structure.

Sharp had seriously overstepped his authority and jurisdiction, that was pretty clear to anyone with a basic understanding of the compromise agreements governing X-COM and the USAF's shared control of the SGC and how the still nationally controlled Area 51 fitted into that sometimes less than clear-cut arrangement. Although the UN member states had given X-COM great leeway to ignore national sovereignty when pursuing alien spacecraft over borders, or to deploy troops anywhere in the world under alien attack or occupation, they had not given the organisation complete carte-blanche to do whatever the hell they wanted at whim and the politicians and bureaucrats would want to make an example of someone that did so, at least in part so as to make sure that other X-COM Senior Officers thought before they acted next time.

As he stepped out of the pyramid and looked around, putting on his sunglasses to protect his eyes from the blazing sunshine, Ferretti couldn't help but wonder what was going on behind the scenes right now. Sharp would not be helped by the fact that XSGCOM was considerably more bound by red tape than the typical, almost autonomous, X-COM bases elsewhere in the world that mainly dealt with the politically uncomplicated threat from Loki's forces. With the SGC diplomatic considerations were much higher up the agenda and the International Oversight Advisory had far greater real direct power and influence than the UN Security Council did over the main X-COM facility in Poland for example. Elizabeth Weir couldn't strip Russell Sharp of his rank, he was still an X-COM Commander, but if the IOA gave her the authority she could under the terms of the international agreements governing the base relieve him of his command of the SGC just as she had done so. Ferretti had got the impression that Weir had expected far more resistance from Sharp but in reality he had accepted the situation like a good professional soldier and obeyed the lawful commands of his designated superiors and the chain of command as laid down with the regulations he worked under.

'So I guess the place has changed since you were here before Sir?' one of SG-2, an Airforce Captain, asked Ferretti, breaking him out of his thoughts.

Ferretti nodded and pointed to the railway tracks that started by the base of the pyramid and headed off into the distance towards the naquada mines and the city. 'I remember when this was nothing but sand' he said. 'Of course it still mostly is' he added.

'A couple of the Abydonians recognised you when we came through didn't they?' the Captain asked.

'Yeah, they helped us fight Ra and his Jaffa on the first ever Stargate mission' Ferretti confirmed, 'met them again when I came here a second time and got shot at by Apophis and his boys instead' he told him. 'They're better dressed now than they used to be, better fed too' he observed. 'Back before we got that big asteroid full of the stuff we sent engineers here to modernise the mining techniques they used and hired locals to work the jackhammers' Ferretti continued. 'They're probably mining ten times the ore for half the work these days and trading it through the gate, we aren't buying much these days but there's plenty of other worlds that are.'

'The Goa'uld?' the Captain queried.

'Nah, I hear their major customer is some group of traders and merchants that calls itself the Lucian Cartel' Ferretti told him. 'Harry Maybourne introduced the Abydonians to them before he retired' he said. 'I'll bet he claimed a fee from both of them' Ferretti guessed, accurately in fact. 'With our mining gear and the railroad we put in to haul the ore to the gate saving on time and labour the locals can sell it cheaper than anyone else and still make a profit.'

'SG-3 and the heavy weapons should be starting to come through any minute Sir' the Captain noted, checking his watch. 'Want me to go back inside and point them in the right direction?' he asked.

'Just don't get run over by a FRED or a MALP that comes rolling out from the gate too fast' Ferretti warned. 'And tell the jarheads that they had better enjoy filling sandbags because Colonel O'Neill wants this place fortified in case Anubis shows up looking for the Eye of Ra' he said.

'Well at least we've got plenty of sand Sir' the Captain noted with a chuckle.

'That won't seem half as good news after you've filled the first hundred bags yourself' Ferretti told him earnestly, it must have been at least a hundred and ten degrees in the shade. 'I'll try and find some volunteers to help' he said. 'They're usually eager to sign up' he recalled.

Inside the pyramid SG-1 was inside a chamber Skara had led them to once they arrived. He had been expecting them, saying Daniel had appeared and told them that both O'Neill and a Goa'uld would be coming seeking the Eye of Ra. The chamber was at the very end of the network of catacombs dug out of the rock by slaves thousands of years before but it showed signs of far more recent activity, Skara said that when he lived on Abydos with Share Jackson had spent much time exploring the place and deciphering the hieroglyphics that covered nearly every surface.

They had been there less than half an hour and O'Neill was already bored rigid, Jonas and Teal'c were trying to translate the myriad symbols painted on the chamber walls, Carter was trying to detect any power signals that might be coming from hidden technology and Andianov was sat on the floor leaning back against a column and quietly seething about events back at the SGC.

'So are you seeing anyone?' O'Neill asked Skara.

'Maybe' Skara replied coyly.

'Really? Is it serious?' O'Neill asked the young Abydonian.

Skara smiled. 'We are betrothed' he told his friend.

'Trust me, that's serious' O'Neill told him with a grin. 'Congratulations' he said.

'Thank you' Skara replied. 'I wanted to ask you to sha'loki' he said. 'To stand beside me at the ceremony' he explained.

'Best Man you mean' O'Neill reasoned. 'I'd be honoured' he told him honestly.

'Will you be coming to my wedding alone?' Skara asked. 'My future wife will wish to know if we need an extra place at the table for our most important guests' he said.

Carter gave up playing with her scanning device and wandered over. 'Nothing Sir' she said apologetically.

'Is Carter invited to your wedding too?' O'Neill asked.

'Of course' Skara confirmed. 'Will you be coming together O'Neill?' he asked.

O'Neill and Carter looked at each other for a brief moment. 'Through the stargate as friends attending a wedding together sure' Carter said.

'Yeah sure' O'Neill affirmed, nodding much more vigorously than was required.

Skara smiled. 'What is wrong with your companion?' he asked curiously, indicating Andianov who was now sullenly consuming a ration bar.

'She's just pissed, she'll get over it' O'Neill replied. 'Probably best to leave her alone and under no circumstances say the words Elizabeth or Weir' he advised quietly. 'How are you doing Jonas?' he asked loudly.

'The boy is right, there are plenty of references to the Eye of Ra but nothing that conveniently says "press here to open secret chamber" or anything so useful' Jonas replied. 'Lots of stuff about how amazing and cool The Supreme System Lord Ra is though' he noted.

'Cool?' O'Neill queried. 'I guess that's not a literal translation.'

'More or less' Jonas replied, pointing to one set of hieroglyphs. 'What does this say Teal'c?' he asked for confirmation.

The Jaffa looked at the writing. 'It says Chel'nok in ancient goa'uld Jonas Quinn as you very well know' Teal'c replied.

'Which means?' Jonas asked.

'Very cool' Teal'c translated.

'See' Jonas said to O'Neill. 'There's a passage over there which says Ra is a righteous dude and Anubis is bogus' he declared, pointing to the far wall.

'Now I _know_ you're making this up' O'Neill responded disbelievingly.

'No that really is about the closest translation' a familiar voice interrupted. 'Hi again Jack' it said.

Andianov nearly jumped out of her skin, screeched something in Russian and as the remains of her ration bar went one way she grabbed hold of her laser-rifle propped against the column beside her.

'Congratulations Daniel I never thought I'd see that kind of reaction from the Sergeant' O'Neill told the apparition which had now joined them.

'Sorry Lyudmila' Daniel apologised to the Russian who had now clambered to her feet and was pointing her L2-A2 Rifle at him, wide-eyed. 'If you fire that it'll just go right through and damage the wall behind me' he told her. 'Sam, Teal'c' he greeted his other friends with a smile. 'Nice to see you too Jonas' he told the Kelownan.

'So I hope you're here to tell us where the Eye is' O'Neill asked Daniel. 'We haven't had much luck finding it yet' he said.

Jonas nodded. 'There's nothing here. Just a lot of talk about the power of Ra, the size of his domain...'

'How awesomely groovy he is' O'Neill interrupted. 'Time for you to shine ascension-boy' he told Daniel, 'where's the Eye?' he asked.

'I know it's here' Daniel replied, 'just not in the specifics' he admitted.

Andianov stepped forward gingerly and waved the end of her rifle through Daniel. 'Hologram or some kind of psionics?' she asked.

'Sort of both really plus something else' Daniel told her. 'I know all that paranoia and suspicion you've got means it hard for you to believe it's me but it really is' he said. 'If being ascended made you all-knowing I could prove it, unfortunately it doesn't which is why I can't just point you all in the direction of the Eye even if I thought the others would let me interfere that much' he said.

'Aren't you interfering by talking to us right now?' Carter asked him.

'Yes but we're given some leeway, I just won't get invited to the good parties for a couple of hundred years for doing this' Daniel told her.

'They throw a decent shindig in the higher planes do they?' O'Neill asked wryly.

'I wouldn't know, too many people are still pissed at Oma Desala for ascending me so I'm persona-non-grata among the in-crowd' Daniel replied. 'At the current rate I'll probably be the black sheep for eons' he told them with a shrug.

'It is good to see you so well Daniel Jackson' Teal'c told him.

'Thanks Teal'c' Daniel replied with a smile. 'Sam I'd give you a hug but I'm not very good at making myself corporeal yet' he told her. 'It's trickier than you might think he said. 'Okay here's the bad news' he continued, directly to O'Neill. 'Anubis is heading for Abydos in his flagship and is meeting one of Loki's ships on the way so Loki can hand over the Eye of Tiamat.'

'Great, so he managed to get it off Earth then?' O'Neill replied. 'Oh you got Sharp canned by the way' he told him. 'When he found out the Eye was gone he took over Area 51 without permission and annoyed the politicians mightily.'

'I know' Daniel replied. 'I've been keeping an eye on you all' he said. 'That didn't really surprise me, he's not one to consider the political ramifications of his actions' he continued, 'him asking Janet out and her saying yes was the one which caught me totally off-guard' he told them.

'What?' Carter exclaimed.

'Ask her when you get back' Daniel advised, 'it could have just been her getting caught off-guard too' he suggested. 'I think he's held a torch for her for a while but couldn't do anything about it before because of all those military regulations.'

O'Neill and Carter momentarily found themselves looking at each other and then instantly broke away from the glance when Daniel coughed and they realised Teal'c, Andiandov and Jonas were looking at them too. Being less stoic than the other two Jonas was the one that had to fight much harder not to grin.

Andianov had lowered her rifle. 'The Commander was always good at quickly taking advantage of changed circumstances' she observed.

'I've heard that the Chinese use the same word for crisis as they do opportunity' O'Neill commented. 'Crisitunity' he said.

'I don't think crisitunity is a real word Sir' Carter told him.

'It's a perfectly cromulent word Carter' O'Neill responded, 'you need to embiggen your vocabulary' he said. 'Hey I've read the dictionary cover to cover' he told Jonas who was looking at him doubtfully. 'The zebra did it' he confided. 'So when can we expect Anubis?' he asked Daniel.

'It won't be long' Daniel replied.

'Well at least he can't just blow us all to hell from orbit if he wants to retrieve the Eye' O'Neill reasoned. 'He'll have to land troops and fight his way in.'

'I've warned the Abydonians in the city to take shelter in the deep mines' Daniel told him. Using the mining equipment from Earth the inhabitants had been tunnelling, looking for richer deposits of higher-quality ore than could be obtained from the surface.

'You should join them Skara' O'Neill told him.

'No O'Neill, I will fight beside you' Skara responded.

O'Neill shook his head. 'You should be at the side of your family and your girl' he replied.

'If I abandoned my friend before a battle then I would not be fit to face them' Skara declared forcefully. 'This is our world, we will fight to keep it free of the Goa'uld' he said. 'I carried one within me' he reminded O'Neill, 'I know their evil all too well and know it must be fought by anyone that can do so.'

'Can't argue with that' O'Neill responded. 'Alright Jonas, find the damn Eye' he told him. 'Carter stay with him, Teal'c, Andianov we're joining SG-2 and 3 up there' he said, pointing upwards. 'We should be able to hold a position with our weapons and stone walls this thick a good long while' he decided. 'Daniel if you feel like being more helpful stick you head through some walls and try and find the Eye' he requested.

'There's a line I can't cross in terms of how much I can help you Jack' Daniel replied. 'I'm not sure exactly where it is but I'm sure I'm already pretty close to it' he said.

'Just keep edging nearer, test out those boundaries' O'Neill told him then frowned. 'You know I was hoping for you to be a lot more omniscient and omnipotent' he told him.

'I've come to realise that the whole ascension thing is sold with a lot of false advertising' Daniel replied apologetically.

**High Orbit – Abydos – April 2003**

The flagship of Anubis emerged from hyperspace and took station directly above the pyramid Ra had built there long ago as a landing platform for the early model Ha'tak he had often liked to travel in. Anubis had occasionally wondered why Ra had kept such an archaic craft in service so long after most others had scrapped them, thinking it was perhaps for the sake of nostalgia since it was the craft with which he had once conquered the Tau'ri, but regardless of his reasons Ra was dead, killed by the same human-made thermonuclear device which had blown his venerable mothership to tiny pieces, and he wasn't available for comment.

Later model Ha'tak ships, even the newer distinctive ones used by Apophis, had always retained the basic pyramidal shape to some degree, even if they surrounded it with additional superstructure. That could not however be said of the flagship of Anubis which was very different in appearance and used several design features of Ancient origin, it was also the largest ship ever built by a Goa'uld, even the flagship of Sokar, now in the hands of Apophis was only just over three kilometres across pylon-to-pylon, it dwarfed a regular Ha'tak but paled by comparison with the five kilometre wide leviathan now above Abydos.

'We stand ready to take this world for your glory My Lord' Her'ak the First Prime of Anubis declared from his vantage point at a window on the ships pel'tak looking down at Abydos. He turned to his master sitting on his throne command chair and bowed. 'Shall I lead the assault myself?' he asked.

'No, let those who are disposable lead the first wave in case resistance is heavy' Anubis replied. Her'ak had proven himself a more than adequate First Prime and was loyal as well as skilled. He had once served a minor goa'uld named Khonso but when he learned his master was in reality a Tok'ra Her'ak slew the traitor and pledged himself to a true god instead, one worthy of devotion.

'As you wish My Lord' Her'ak replied, inwardly smiling that his master thought him too valuable to waste. 'I have ordered the crews of our Deathgliders and Al'Kesh not to fire their weapons directly at the pyramid for fear of collapsing the passageways within and burying the Eye of Ra' he said.

'If any disobey have them put to death' Anubis responded, 'and their families' he added.

'Just their parents, wives and children or their cousins too?' Her'ak checked.

Anubis thought about that. 'Not the cousins, we're too short on manpower' he replied. Even if he managed to obtain the last Eye and bring his super-weapon on-line he would still need many Jaffa to occupy his expanding empire and as yet he still had far too few.

'I'll let everyone know' Her'ak told him with a deferential bow.

'On second thoughts I would not want to be thought of as going too soft' Anubis decided, he had a reputation to uphold after all. 'Have their First Cousins scourged' he ordered.

Her'ak nodded. 'Very wise' he concurred, taking out a tablet recording device from his armour and making a note.

The sheer size of the flagship meant that as well as a full complement of deathgliders it also carried dozens of Al'kesh in oversized internal bays plus a number of the even larger troop transports only Anubis employed to carry whole companies of Jaffa at a time into battle. With multiple squadrons of deathgliders leading off a whole fleet of craft was soon launched which dove into the atmosphere heading towards the surface, thousands of troops being landed in a show of overwhelming force designed to both demonstrate the might of Anubis and hopefully ensure a quick and easy victory.

Jack O'Neill pulled the peak of his cap lower to shield his eyes as he squinted into the sky. It was so bright here even the sunglasses he was wearing didn't block out enough light for comfort. 'Dots' he said.

'Deathgliders O'Neill' Teal'c responded.

'Good eyes T' O'Neill told him as they stood side-by side near the entrance to the pyramid at the top of the stone steps that led down to the twin obelisks and the small rail-yard before them. 'Ferretti, how many MANPADS have we got?' he called out to the commander of SG-2 who was still helping pile up sandbags to the right of the doorway.

'Twelve Stingers' Ferretti replied.

'Not so great' O'Neill responded with a frown.

'Four of them are X-COM specials' Ferretti told him, 'naquada/potassium warheads with quarter-kiloton yields' he said. 'I've got them ready to go at your order Colonel' he reported.

'I take back what I said before' O'Neill responded more enthusiastically.

'They're experimental' Ferretti noted. 'If they don't blow us all to hell on launch they might enter the standard inventory' he said. Someone had apparently commented in an after-action report that the grunts needed something with more punch to take out an Al'kesh or similar and a few weeks later a crate of nuclear MANPADS had arrived at the SGC, you had to admire their ability to get things done fast.

O'Neill and Teal'c looked at each other then at the approaching multitude of craft getting larger and larger as they approach. 'Screw it' O'Neill declared. 'I'm game let's nuke the bastards' he said. 'You do think X-COM actually tests this stuff properly at the range before they issue it for field trials right?' he asked Teal'c quietly.

'I'm sure that at least the majority of test-launches would have been successful before they issued the weapon O'Neill' Teal'c replied.

'That's reassuring' O'Neill responded sardonically.

The leading deathglider squadron swept in at relatively low speed, subsonic so they could be sure of their aim. It was known the Tau'ri had strong links with this world, perhaps it was under their rule with the former slaves of Ra now labouring in the mines for other humans rather than the gods, but for whatever reason they were there the likely presence of the warriors of the First World meant facing the advanced weaponry they utilised including missiles that were rumoured to seek and follow airborne targets using Tau'ri magics.

When the deathgliders got within a handful of kilometres of the pyramid a fast-moving object leaving a trail of smoke in its wake shot up to meet them. The pilots knew what to expect and began manoeuvring wildly to avoid it as they had been warned to do, it might have helped if it had needed to be anywhere near them when it exploded.

A normal shoulder-launched Stinger Missile carried less than half a kilo of explosives as its warhead, an explosion proven adequate to destroy a deathglider on contact. The potassium/naquada warhead on this one however exploded with a force of two-hundred and fifty _tonnes_ of TNT which made for a rather more spectacular explosion when the proximity fuse it carried triggered its detonation.

'Wow' O'Neill declared as the blinding flash and short-lived fireball died away to reveal a squadron's worth of broken deathgliders in varying conditions and numbers of pieces falling from the skies, the fragile airframes smashed by the blastwave sending them and their pilots spiralling to the ground.

'Hell yeah!' the SG-3 Marine who had fired it exclaimed, holding up his launcher in triumph. The handful of awestruck Abydonians with them including Skara eventually collected their wits enough to start whooping and they now all realised why O'Neill had told them to close their eyes for the explosion.

'Your turn Ferretti' O'Neill called out just before the grinning head of SG-2 launched his own souped-up Stinger having chosen to try one himself, the missile hurtling away at supersonic speed and veering left through the sky towards the next wave of deathgliders which was already starting to scatter after witnessing what the last Tau'ri missile had done. They were successful enough that the second explosion only took out two more Goa'uld fighters but even that was enough to ensure that the armada which had been heading straight towards the pyramid complex was now reconsidering the wisdom of getting anywhere near it.

'They will now likely land some distance away and approach by foot O'Neill' Teal'c told him. 'The Deathgliders and Al'kesh will circle and come in low for a safer high-speed attack run to support the Jaffa footsoldiers when they launch their assault' he said.

'Probably best not use the special warheads on anything much closer than a klick even if I did put on plenty of sun-screen before I came here' O'Neill decided. 'We've probably got a few more minutes until we're up to our necks in Jaffa so finish piling up those sandbags and someone check that the Mighty Malps are ready and the motors still spin' he ordered, 'damn sand here gets into everything' he complained, somehow it had already made it into his shorts.

'Shall I check on the progress of Jonas Quinn and Daniel Jackson?' Teal'c asked, they couldn't get decent radio reception to the catacombs from outside the pyramid, they had already tried.

'No you stay here, I'll go, I'm probably better at lighting a rocket up their ass' O'Neill replied.

'You intend to threaten them with one of the missiles O'Neill?' Teal'c queried.

O'Neill looked at him. 'I would if I thought it would get results' he replied.

Deep within the catacombs Daniel was wandering around the room where he thought the Eye might be concealed. 'I always thought there might be a secret chamber here' he said, indicating one of the walls.

'And you didn't mention this earlier because....?' Jonas asked.

'I was hoping you'd start looking there without being prompted' Daniel told him, 'I'm not sure how many clues I can give you before the others shut me down' he said.

Jonas looked around. 'Could you be a little more explicit on the rules' he requested loudly of nobody in sight. 'It's very annoying for us mortals' he declared before walking over to the wall Daniel had indicated.

Carter joined him and looked over the wall, it showed an image of Ra with sunbeams and a jewel embedded in the wall. They had inspected it earlier but it was far too small to be the Eye itself. 'Daniel couldn't you just stick you head through the wall here and look?' she asked.

'No' Daniel replied, 'don't ask why it's complicated' he told her.

'Well if you do know anything more and we get near it could you maybe start saying hotter or colder?' Carter suggested.

'No I asked Oma Desala if I could get away with that earlier' Daniel replied, 'she said no, it's been done before' he told them. 'You know I'm not the first ascended being who's been known to interfere a little' he said. 'Oh and I was supposed to tell you Orlin says Hi' he added, remembering he had promised to. 'He might have dropped in too but they keep him on an even shorter leash than they do me.'

Carter raised her eyebrows. 'Is there like some club for wayward ascended beings you hang out in?' she asked.

'It's more like a Diner, or an imagined one given pseudo-physical form as a manifestation of ascended power' Daniel replied. 'Don't look at me like that' he continued, noting the dubious expression on her face, 'I'm serious' he told her. 'Hey is that my stuff?' Daniel asked Jonas recognising the archaeology tools and implements Jonas had been using.

'You weren't using it' Jonas told him. 'I've got your office too.'

'It's tidier now' Carter noted. Jonas was far more of a neat-freak than Daniel had ever been.

'Hey enough socialising, we're already throwing nukes around up there you know' O'Neill's voice interrupted loudly. 'Just find the damn Eye before it all gets nasty and ill-tempered' he ordered.

Carter turned to O'Neill who was standing at the bottom of the steps leading up. 'Nukes?' she asked.

'Only dinky little ones' O'Neill explained, holding his thumb and forefinger slightly apart. 'Once we've got the damn Eye we can leave, Anubis will get lost and everything will be peachy' he said. 'Just remember we're on the clock here' he said seriously, 'we saw enough ships coming in to land to carry a regiments worth of Jaffa at least, maybe a lot more if all those Al'kesh were standing room only.'

'I think we're onto something here Colonel' Jonas told him.

'Good' O'Neill replied, 'you'll know where I'll be' he said, turning around and heading back up the steps several at a time. He had double-timed through the torch-lit catacombs to get there but that had been mainly downhill and the return journey would leave him out of breath he knew.

Jonas looked at the rays painted on the wall that were focused on the crystal there. 'Here's hoping' he said, getting out a magnifying glass so he could focus some light on it, thinking it might be the opening mechanism to a secret door.

Outside at the entrance Jaffa horns could be heard to sound as the enemy approached, they had landed out-of-sight beyond the sand dunes and would almost certainly soon appear. 'Skara, tell your people to hold their fire until I give the word' Ferretti ordered. The locals had a mixture of M16A2 assault rifles which had been issued to them plus a few MP5 sub-machineguns left over from the very first visit of Earth soldiers to Abydos but their marksmanship wasn't exactly great.

As well as the usual L2-A2 Laser rifles each member of SG-1, 2 and 3 carried they also had a pair of old M60 belt-fed machineguns set up that someone must have dug out of the back of the SGC armoury. Those should perforate a few Jaffa nicely Ferretti thought as the horns got louder and he hunkered down behind his sandbags. It was only a pity the entrance was too narrow to bring through some hovertanks or they could have really kicked some ass he thought regretfully, you could just about scrape through a FRED though and after they had been unloaded the robot trucks had been added as part of the barricade.

'Here we go!' Ferretti called out as the first Jaffa cleared the top of the sand dunes followed by dozens more in a mass wave.

'Here they come to save the day, Mighty MALP is on the way' one of SG-2 sang out, grinning broadly as he switched on the semi-autonomous combat machines.

Two gatling-staff weapons span up as the turrets of the tracked robots resting in the sand nearby turned and began blasting a continual stream of plasma bolts into the charging Jaffa, mowing them down. Hundreds of shots per minute scythed back and forth as the machines devastated the enemy ranks, the two M60 machineguns then joined in, stitching visible lines as the bullets sent up sprays of either sand or blood, their large calibre 7.62mm rounds barely slowed down by Jaffa armour.

Some of the Jaffa tried shooting back but they were hundreds of yards away, a hopeless range for a staff-weapon and as they stopped moving to aim they were picked off by far more accurate laser fire from those among the defenders using their rifles. Breytenbach in SG-3 and Andianov in SG-1 were quietly efficient, clinically gunning the Jaffa down one after another, their demeanour clashing the most fiercely with the excitable Abydonians who were yelling improvised battle-cries and abuse at the Jaffa.

More Anubis Jaffa started to appear from another direction and one of the armed robots switched targeting priorities to engage that group instead. 'Deathgliders' someone cried out as the first of the fighters came screaming in overhead firing its staff-cannon. Teal'c snatched up one of the regular Stinger Launchers and took aim as it screamed past, firing once the infra-red seeker had a lock. The missile chased it down and blew the back off the deathglider the machine plummeting into the ground and exploding as three more of the craft appeared, firing randomly and yet another group of Jaffa arrived over a third dune.

Jaffa bodies already littered the desert but the problem was increasingly becoming that the defenders couldn't kill them fast enough and as they managed to get closer and closer some of the staff blasts got nearer and nearer.

'Staff-Cannon' Andianov exclaimed as a larger blast bloomed in the desert near one of the Mighty-MALP robots. She spotted the weapon and its crew but before she could gun them down a rocket hurtled off towards it and blew both the cannon and its crew apart.

O'Neill put down the expended Javelin anti-tank missile launcher he had grabbed as soon as he spotted the staff-cannon being set up and took up his laser-rifle again. 'I need to get into better shape' he said, breathing heavily from sprinting to join the battle when he heard the sounds of fighting echoing back through the stone passageways.

One of the M60's jammed. 'Get that fucker firing again!' Ferretti screamed at the man using it before bellowing at Skara instead. 'Now' he said and the Aydonians joined in, blazing away with their weaponry at the invaders.

A large goa'uld Troop-Transport appeared off to the far right, coming into land to drop off hundreds more Jaffa into the fighting from a forth direction. 'Nuke that son-of-a-bitch' O'Neill exclaimed as one of the SG-3 Marines put down his rifle and took up one of the specially marked Stinger launchers instead. 'Close your eyes, open your mouths and duck' O'Neill yelled at the top of his lungs as the missile streaked off. 'This should be interesting' he thought as a naquada warhead detonated rather too close for comfort.

The explosion was titanic, the blast rocked the desert as the Troop Transport practically ceased to be, the remaining small pieces of hull raining down over a massive area. It was deafeningly loud and blindingly bright, some of the sand right underneath the explosion fused to glass.

O'Neill had sheltered behind some sandbags and realised that there was blood running from his nose and he was deaf. 'Christ' he said and looking around saw that one of the Mighty-MALPS had fallen over and was no longer firing although the other was still going, cutting down disorientated blinded Jaffa. O'Neill reached over and gently thumped the nearest soldier to him, a USAF Captain from SG-2. 'Keep fighting' he ordered, and taking advantage of the situation he started to take out more of the Jaffa before they could recover. The Captain soon got his head straight again and joined in as did the others, it was simply slaughter but this was no time to act civilised.

Inside the catacombs they had managed to open the secret chamber and found various valuable relics but still no Eye of Ra. Jonas had been looking for another hiding place within the secret chamber where it might be when the whole place trembled from the explosion outside and once the dust settled and he was reasonably confident of the roof not caving in he resumed his search as Daniel continued to pour over a stone tablet inscribed in Ancient he had found. 'I'm glad I took out some added insurance on this mission' he told Carter.

Carter had been examining the artefacts herself but now turned to him. 'What do you mean Daniel?' she asked.

'After I went to the SGC I visited Apophis' he said. 'With the speed of his hyperdrives he should be arriving right about now' he told her.

High above Anubis watched as the flagship of Apophis and a half dozen of his Ha'tak ships emerged from Hyperspace. 'Raise shields' he ordered as the two immense motherships faced off above Abydos.

**Great Pyramid – Abydos – April 2003**

As far as O'Neill was concerned the situation had become utterly ridiculous around about the time he realised there were now _two_ entirely different sets of deathgliders in the skies above fighting each other for air-superiority. The armies of Anubis had eventually rallied and reorganised enough to resume their assault on the pyramid complex in earnest when a second large wave of goa'uld fighters came storming out of the skies only for the leading group to be struck by the last of the naquada/potassium MANPADS. After that all hell broke loose as gliders and Al'kesh belonging to Anubis stopped trying to support their infantry and started fighting the larger number of aerospace fighters which had just arrived on the scene instead.

'What the crap is going on Colonel?' Ferretti asked nonplussed as what must have been well over a hundred goa'uld fighters and bombers duelled with staff-cannon above in a confused weaving dogfight of epic proportions.

'Damned if I know but if they're shooting at each other they're not shooting at us' O'Neill replied brightly as he watched for a few more seconds before resuming firing at Jaffa infantry.

High above the flagships of Apophis and Anubis had still not fired at each other though they had closed to point-blank range with the other Ha'tak of Apophis having surrounded the enemy mothership. They had now launched perhaps a quarter of their combined deathgliders towards the surface, enough to badly outnumber those of Anubis already in the atmosphere, but the rest were kept back to add their firepower to the fleet.

A shimmering and smugly confident image of Apophis appeared projected before Anubis. '_You are outnumbered and outgunned_' he declared. '_It is a pity your fleet is too overstretched for you to have bought more ships_' he added disingenuously.

Anubis rose from his throne. 'You think your pathetic tiny vessels and primitive technology can match my own power?' he asked with derision dripping from his voice.

'_If I had as few ships as you in my service I would not have wasted so many resources on one vessel_' Apophis replied with a smirk. '_How many Ha'tak could you have built for the same expense as that ugly monstrosity you are flying?_' he asked rhetorically. '_From its scale I can only assume you are compensating for something_' he said, re-using a joke he had heard a lesser System-Lord use about his own flagship though he wasn't about to admit it.

'How did you know to come here?' Anubis demanded to know.

'I told him' Daniel replied, appearing from nowhere on the bridge nearby. Her'ak instantly fired a shot from his Staff-Weapon which passed through the ascended being harmlessly but one of the walls behind him was not so fortunate. 'Tell him to stop that' Daniel told Anubis, indicating Her'ak, 'it's annoying and hard on the decor' he said.

'Stand down' Anubis told his First Prime. 'So the others allowed you to interfere?' he asked Daniel.

'Well they haven't stopped me yet' Daniel replied. 'I know what you are' he said. 'I've told my people too' he added.

'Very perceptive of you but irrelevant' Anubis replied.

'I couldn't let all the Eyes fall into the hands of someone who also knew how to use them to their maximum potential' Daniel told him. 'We're close enough to the domain of Apophis that with his faster hyperdrives there was time enough to warn him.'

'And he trusted you, I am surprised' Anubis responded, looking at the image of the other goa'uld.

'It would be truer to say that Apophis is smart enough to fear you gaining any more power' Daniel replied. 'Plus he was still seething about aliens rampaging through his palace and hates your guts which helps' he said.

'_Give the Eyes to me and I will let you live_' Apophis declared.

'Personally I wouldn't trust his word any more than I would trust him with the Eyes' Daniel remarked to Anubis. 'I'm personally hoping that you're going to blow each other straight to hell' he said happily.

'_Surrender or I will target the pyramid below and destroy it, better to destroy the Eye of Ra than let it fall into your hands_' Apophis stated.

'That wasn't part of the agreement' Daniel told Apophis curtly.

Anubis looked at Daniel. 'Did the intelligence of ascended beings drop while I was away?' he asked. 'One of my people going back on his word, how unprecedented' he said sarcastically.

'_Once Anubis is destroyed I will defeat the rest of the System Lords and reign supreme_' Apophis declared. '_And then I will crush the Tau'ri, the Tollan, the Asgard and all others_' he vowed. '_But first since I am here I will hunt down the traitors below who rose in rebellion against their god, my brother Ra, and have them exterminated as an example to all slaves_.'

Daniel blinked. 'Oh this isn't turning out well' he said to himself.

'Personally I hated his brother so once I had the Eye I would have just left' Anubis told Daniel, less than honestly except the part about hating Ra anyway. 'You led him here' he pointed out.

'Sire, one of the Ha'tak vessels of Apophis is changing position to target the planet below' Her'ak reported, looking at a console display.

'You got us into this' Anubis told Daniel, calmly returning to his throne. 'My ship isn't powerful enough to win this fight without the Eyes' he stated flatly, he couldn't even run away, Apophis had faster hyperdrives than he did.

'Plan C' Daniel said and vanished again.

'Target the enemy flagship with all guns that can be bought to bear' Anubis ordered. Although the superweapon required the Eyes to work he still had firepower equivalent to many regular Ha'tak ships at his disposal and extremely strong shields with modifications based on Ancient designs. The problem was that he was _not_ facing regular Ha'tak, Anubis knew that the mothership Apophis was flying mounted the largest capital-ship staff-cannon ever made, weaponry that could even pound down the shields of his own massive ship in time. One on one it might have been close to an even match, more powerful guns versus better shields, but they weren't one-on-one here, his best bet was to hope to disable the flagship and then destroy the smaller motherships but that would require a great deal of luck.

Daniel reappeared standing next to O'Neill down on the planet. 'Change of plan Jack' he said. 'We need to give Anubis the Eye of Ra' he said sheepishly.

O'Neill had been looking down the sights of his L2-A2 and turned his head slightly. 'You have _got_ to be shitting me!' he exclaimed. 'Look at that' he declared, indicating the hundreds upon hundreds of corpses that covered the sands of Abydos and the wreckage of dozens of broken Deathgliders and Al'kesh that joined them.

'Apophis is here with part of his fleet, after he's destroyed Anubis he's going to kill everyone on Abydos' Daniel told him. 'And he's targeting this pyramid with a Ha'tak' he added.

'Oh that's just fucking great' O'Neill moaned.

'Anubis has his flagship, and you wouldn't believe the size of the thing, but without the Eyes he's outgunned' Daniel told O'Neill as the fighting continued around and above them. 'If we give him the Eyes he can destroy Apophis.'

'You don't make my life very easy Danny, I hope you know that' O'Neill replied. 'If Anubis has the eyes then what?' he asked.

'He'll destroy Apophis... and then with him gone he'll easily conquer the galaxy' Daniel replied.

'So the short-term solution isn't all that great long-term then?' O'Neill queried wryly.

'Not so much' Daniel had to agree.

'Anubis definitely can't win the fight without it?' O'Neill checked.

'Not a chance' Daniel confirmed.

O'Neill looked to heavens. 'Why me?' he asked, not expecting a reply. 'Okay if Jonas has found the damn Eye we'll give it to Anubis but after that I expect you to do whatever it takes to stop him' he said.

'I'll do my best' Daniel promised.

'_Whatever_ it takes' O'Neill repeated seriously, 'I don't give a shit above the rules they've got you working under' he said. 'If you want us to give him the Eye then it's _your_ responsibility to deal with the consequences.'

'Agreed' Daniel replied, 'we can use the rings in the pyramid to get it up to Anubis.'

'Carter disabled them, tell her to activate the things again' O'Neill replied, hoping he wasn't making the worst mistake of his life. 'And get up there and tell Anubis to stop his damn men attacking us, we're killing the poor bastards for no reason' he declared. 'It's murder, nothing more nothing less' he said sadly as more and more Jaffa fell to Tau'ri weapons.

Apophis had meanwhile opened fire, the main guns on his flagship could have blasted through the fully charged shields of an older model Ha'tak in one salvo and it said much for both the size of the ship Anubis was on, and the sophistication of its shields, that it could shrug off such a battering, at least initially anyway. Repeated strikes were however draining the shields of the great ship quickly, and although the return fire was shaking Apophis's flagship it was obvious who was doing worse from the exchange.

Blast after blast of oversized staff-cannon with multi-megaton yields crashed into shields, and hundreds of deathgliders added to the weight of fire, their collective contribution still almost negligible but not quite. 'It is a pity my brother Ra was not here to see this' Apophis observed, together with Lord Yu they had defeated Anubis the last time he had tried to conquer the galaxy and even the senile old fool Yu clearly remembered what a twisted evil creature Anubis truly was.

Daniel Jackson appeared before him. 'You should be running' he said.

'What?' Apophis responded in confusion.

'We just gave Anubis the Eye of Ra' Daniel explained. 'You stay and you're dead' he stated flatly. 'If you can rally your entire fleet you might be able to overwhelm him but right now you're screwed' he said. 'Contact Lord Yu and tell him to bring every ship he can to defend Delmak alongside you because that'll be where Anubis will be heading next' he told him.

'You're lying' Apophis responded, it was clearly a bluff.

'Am I?' Daniel asked rhetorically as the centre section of the mothership of Anubis started to open up, almost like a flower opening, and sensors indicated power-levels aboard were spiking to near astronomical levels. 'I couldn't let you wipe out the people of Abydos' he said simply. 'Bye' he added, disappearing again.

Apophis stared at the enemy warship. 'Charge the hyperdrive' he ordered. 'NOW!' he screamed.

Waves of lightning-like energy shot out from the mothership of Anubis and crackled around the Ha'tak vessels surrounding it, overloading their shields in an instant then rending them apart. Some of the energy washed over the flagship of Apophis dropping her own shields by half in seconds before it opened a hyperspace window and escaped into subspace leaving the other ships to their doom.

'Chel'nok' Her'ak said in awe as his master's great warship destroyed its foes, the power provided by the combined Eyes overwhelming. 'I can see why you were willing to trade a Ha'tak for the Eye of Tiamat My Lord' he remarked to Anubis.

Anubis leaned back in his throne. 'That rogue Asgard will prove to be a valuable ally' he said with satisfaction.

'We are still surrounded by many deathgliders' Her'ak noted.

'Order them to surrender and if they do not destroy them' Anubis ordered. 'Recall our ships from the surface there is nothing there of value now' he said. 'Once we have recovered them, target Abydos with the Eye Weapon.'

'Why?' Daniel asked, appearing again. 'Why would you do that?' he wanted to know. 'You hated Ra, you said so, why punish the Abydonians?'

'I am not punishing them for their revolt' Anubis replied. 'I'm just doing it because I can' he said simply.

'You're letting Apophis get away' Daniel reminded him.

'His ship is faster, there is no point chasing him' Anubis replied. 'His time will come soon' he said. 'There should be witnesses' he decided. 'Allow the Tau'ri to leave through the chappa'ai in peace before executing my orders' he ordered Her'ak. 'O'Neill will live with his failure to defend the first world he took from the Goa'uld.'

'I won't let you do this' Daniel declared.

'Strike me down' Anubis replied, 'do it now or I will destroy Abydos' he declared.

Daniel raised his hands and began to summon power, Anubis might be half-ascended still but he was willing to bet he couldn't survive this. He fired the intense swirling cloud of energy at Anubis but it was repulsed by an invisible force and swept back towards him. 'No don't do this!' he implored as he vanished.

Her'ak stared in wonder. 'You are indeed all-powerful my Lord' he told Anubis in awe.

'What you just saw was not my doing' Anubis responded. He had known the others would not allow Oma Desala off so lightly as to allow one being who she had ascended to destroy another and end her punishment for repeated interference.

Far below Jack O'Neill surveyed the battlefield. 'What a waste of brave men' he said sadly as Teal'c made a silent prayer for his brothers laid dead and dying in the sands of Abydos. 'What was the damn point?' he asked himself quietly as Jonas stepped out from the pyramid and looked around in shock at the carnage. He was carrying two pieces of a stone tablet in his hands but any thoughts he had of explaining how important they might be and what they might mean had been stripped by the sight of so many dead and wounded.

Lyudmila Andianov wandered over to Breytenbach the other X-COM soldier present. 'We'll still be throwing Staff-Weapons through the gate next Tuesday' she complained. 'And I'm not burying that lot' she stated with finality before the shimmering vision of Oma Desala appeared and saved them the trouble by telling O'Neill he and his people needed to leave right that second promising she would look after everything once he left.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_There is a lot more happening behind the scenes with the Sharp situation, more to follow on that later in the chapter. In the show SG-1 went to Abydos alone. Here they have bought along SG-2, SG-3 and plenty of additional firepower too (which makes more sense)._

_It's mentioned way back in the Fic that Earth had re-opened and modernised the Abydos mines as their primary source of naquada (before the asteroid came along). With Earth no longer buying and all the infrastructure in place I could see them selling elsewhere, Harry Maybourne as a middle-man between them and the Lucian Cartel (they're still not the Alliance yet, just an underground criminal organisation of smugglers and mercenaries) seemed like his sort of thing. The Lucians used naquada as a major trade good in the show. The words crisatunity, cromulent and embiggen come from the Simpsons in case you didn't know. Jack O'Neill was a major fan of course._

___The scalings for the Flagships come from gateworld forums and seem pretty reliable and thought-out, the Anubis Flagship is actually larger than Atlantis! The Troop Transports were only ever seen used by Anubis, they're a lot larger than an Al'kesh but don't have a visible shield so even a sub-kiloton warhead should be sufficient to take them out fairly spectacularly._

_Yep, pretty big battle to come over Delmak..._


	44. Chapter 44

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**High Orbit – Delmak – April 2003**

Quantity has a quality all its own, and this was becoming increasingly evident to Anubis as he discovered just how much he had underestimated the size of the fleet belonging to Apophis. With his gigantic flagship leading the rest of his advanced Hat'ak motherships into battle Anubis had dropped out of hyperspace several thousand kilometres from Delmak only to find that they were outnumbered considerably more than he had expected them to be and he had expected them to be outnumbered better than five to one.

Apophis had clearly been replacing his losses more quickly than even the estimates of the Tok'ra spies passing information to Baal had suggested, and Anubis had thought those were wildly inflated given that no Goa'uld ever had more than a fraction of the necessary industrial base required to do that. Even Ra at the height of his power as Supreme System Lord would not have been able to field a fleet a _quarter_ of the size of the one that now defended Delmak and more were still arriving from the outskirts of the territories conquered by Apophis.

The Tok'ra had reported that the Tau'ri and Free Jaffa raids on his supply lines and offworld mines and factories had meant that Apophis had been forced to keep a sizeable proportion of his forces back from the front lines but Anubis had also dismissed those stories as fiction until now. However the sheer number of unexpected additional ships who hadn't been fighting against the coalition of System Lords, many being older model Ha'tak and mere Al'kesh admittedly but still fighting vessels nonetheless, indicated that the traitors had been correct there too. With nothing else to lose Apophis had stripped all his garrisons of any ship that could make it home and now Anubis faced more than he had counted on... even with his Ancient super-weapon he was going to be bloodied badly.

The fighting began when waves of thousands of Deathgliders followed by hundreds of Al'kesh broke over the fleet of Anubis. It was a clever ploy by Apophis to wear down the stronger shields of the Ha'tak ships of his enemy albeit one that threw away the lives of many of his Jaffa as the smaller vessels were swatted by the dozens of heavy plasma cannon that acted as the point-defence batteries of a Goa'uld mothership.

Onboard his own flagship Apophis watched the battle started to unfold placidly. He had witnessed the combined power of the Eyes first-hand over Abydos and was loathe to throw his precious motherships at the enemy until he really had to, better to inflict a few pinpricks first. 'Order half our remaining Deathgliders to join the attack and have Zipacna send in all of his remaining Al'kesh' he commanded his Jaffa.

'It will be done Lord' the Jaffa responded and began relaying on the orders as Apophis went back to watching the display being projected in front of his throne.

'More ships are arriving' another Jaffa announced. 'Six Ha'tak belonging to Ares and four more of the fleet of Moloc' he reported. 'They announce they are here to fight against the orac Anubis.'

'Only ten ships between them?' Apophis queried.

'They report more are on the way' the Jaffa replied. 'Their Ha'tak are not as swift as our own, only those which were based in the territories of Ares and Moloc bordering our own were able to get here on time.'

Apophis looked angry for a second but reluctantly realised it was likely true, only he had vessels that could exceed thirty-two thousand times the speed of light which was the standard for Goa'uld motherships. Without the new hyperdrive and powercore designs he had found Sokar had been working on when he took control of Delmak many of his own far-flung ships would not have arrived yet either. 'What of Lord Yu?' he asked.

'We are told that Lord Yu is bringing his whole fleet to our aid but they too are travelling a great distance to reach us My Lord' the Jaffa replied apologetically. 'A number of his ships under the command of his First Prime Oshu will be here soon, we are promised' he said.

'We are fortunate that Yu-huang Shang Ti hates Anubis so much' Apophis observed, he would not normally have such faith in the word of an ally but Yu truly despised their joint foe. It would be difficult to get Yu _not_ to fight Anubis even if it was only a matter of months since Yu and Apophis were themselves at war.

Being mobbed by swarms of insects was very annoying Anubis decided. Whilst the Al'kesh and tiny Deathgliders could do little but peck at his ships given enough time and cumulative staff-cannon hits they would gradually wear down his shields and then Apophis would start throwing his capital ships at him en-masse.

The half-ascended Goa'uld had already launched his own Deathgliders into the fray but they had been so ridiculously outnumbered that they were almost all gone already. Their wreckage now mingled with that left behind by the enemy craft his point-defence batteries had take out but unlike the latter they were not being replaced by what appeared to be an endless stream of new craft.

'Can we not use the Eye weapon My Lord?' Her'ak the First Prime of Anubis queried.

'The Ancients had another weapon which they would use to deal with large numbers of small craft' Anubis replied. 'They had no need to give the one I recreated the ability to do so as well, it was intended to be used to deal with a possible invasion by the one foe they feared above all others and they would be coming in great ships with shields likely the equal of the Ancients own.'

'It is deeply frustrating' Her'ak growled.

Anubis tended to agree. Perhaps he should have devoted more of his resources into creating a larger marginally less advanced fleet, the thirty Ha'tak he had with him represented nearly the full force at his disposal with only a handful left behind to guard his own capital world. He could have likely built more in the same timescale if he had not insisted upon them mounting the most powerful weapons and shields that he could devise using his new understanding of Ancient technology, sometimes "best" was the mortal enemy of "good enough".

'Enough of this' Anubis thundered. 'Ignore the petty swarm that stings us, press onwards towards the enemy fleet we will demonstrate the might at my disposal' he declared. 'Charge the Eye Weapon, bring us straight into the heart of the fleet of Anubis while the rest of my ships engage their flanks' he ordered.

'It will be done My Lord' Her'ak responded, they were ignoring the mosquitoes and plunging into the hornet's nest now, he thought.

Apophis sent his remaining older model Ha'tak against the flagship of Anubis first, they were less valuable and it wasn't as if even his upgraded motherships had shields that would last too much longer against the overwhelming power of the Eyes anyway. Every ship in range firing its main guns as fast as they could at maximum power the Ha'tak defending Delmak charged headlong towards the gigantic flagship of the unspeakable invader.

Equipped with shields that were far closer to their original Ancient design specifications than the poor copies usually employed by the Goa'uld the ship Anubis commanded absorbed the incoming fire as it prepared to unleash the ferocity of the Eyes. Huge bolts of plasma that could vaporise great cities from orbit with ease splashed, ineffectually it seemed, against the bubble of energy that protected the flagship as it went.

'Fire the weapon' Anubis ordered. 'See my power and tremble' he said with satisfaction as the lightning-like energy was fired out at the nearest enemy ships, stripping them of their shields before they exploded one after another. Waves of destruction seemed to ripple out, rending six-hundred metre wide motherships apart like they were tinfoil until the weapon had to stop to recharge. That was one problem Anubis had not been able to solve, lacking what the Ancients called Potentia, the zero-point-energy batteries they utilised for their more powerful devices, the Eye weapon could not be fired continually even if his vessel did carry the largest naquada reactor powerplant of any ship ever built.

Apophis tried not to wince when he watched better than twenty of his ships, most admittedly not his best, getting blown apart in less than a minute. It was not befitting of a god to adopt that expression in front of their underlings. 'Keep attacking' he ordered, 'Press Anubis harder' he said as more Ha'tak moved to replace the losses firing as they went. 'Have Zipacna and the ships of Ares and Moloc hold off the other enemy motherships, they are merely a distraction not the threat' he stated.

The more powerful main guns of the best ships of the fleet of Apophis now poured fire upon the flagship of Anubis, the System Lord that even the worst of the other goa'uld spoke of as being evil beyond measure. Even those Jaffa aboard who doubted the goa'uld were truly gods were convinced that this was a battle that needed to be won, better Apophis than Anubis any day they knew as they fought the good fight.

The sheer quantity of debris was now becoming an issue, particularly for the unshielded Deathgliders and Al'kesh who had to retreat from the battle because they were losing more of their number due to collisions with clouds of wreckage than they were to enemy fire. Pieces of Ha'tak, some massing thousands of tons, tumbled through space slamming into the still intact shields of their brethren and either shattering or else spiralling away with the impact, perhaps to slam into yet another ship.

'Our shield generators are unable to replenish the shield as fast as it is being drained My Lord' Her'ak warned his master, 'it is holding but is slowly being depleted' he said.

'Is the weapon once again charged?' Anubis asked, ignoring him.

'Nearly My Lord' Her'ak responded.

'Fire again as soon as it is' Anubis ordered.

The second firing of the Eye weapon destroyed even more ships than the first but Apophis cared little for dead Jaffa or ships he could readily replace thanks to the Delmak shipyards. Only destroying Anubis mattered, if he and his Ancient weapon were gone then the other System Lords would fold one by one, if the weapon were not destroyed however then a new Dark Age would surely fall across the galaxy... and more importantly to the ruler of Delmak Apophis himself would be very dead indeed.

'I am not sure that we can destroy this many ships before we are either destroyed or are forced to retreat' Her'ak told Anubis as the Eye weapon recharged again.

'You doubt me?' Anubis responded.

'Never My Lord, if you disagree then I am surely wrong' Her'ak replied with sincerity.

'The insects are no longer attacking us, transfer power from the staff-cannon batteries to the Eye weapon to speed up recharging time' Anubis ordered. 'Shut down artificial gravity, lighting and life support from all decks apart from this one, the engines and powercore' he continued. 'The Jaffa crew in other sections of the ship should be able to survive without them for a while and if they do not then you should personally select their replacements.'

'To serve aboard your flagship is an honour for any of your warriors' Her'ak told him.

'Of course' Anubis agreed.

Zipacna was winning his own part of the battle, though admittedly his tactic of sending two or three of his ships up against each one belonging to Anubis was hardly a tactical masterstroke. With support from the Ha'tak of Ares and Moloc he was grinding down the individually superior capital ships of his foe by brute force. He might end up losing an equal number of his own vessels in the process, the Ha'tak of Anubis had been able to stand up to an Asgard ship after all proving beyond doubt how hard-hitting and well-protected they were, but he was going to win and then he would lead the rest of his ships against the enemy flagship.

They were likely going to lose more ships that day than they had in the last two years fighting the combined fleets of the System Lords but it would be worth it to get rid of Anubis once and for all. Hopefully the bastard would stay dead this time Zipacna earnestly hoped.

Apophis kept a mental note of his losses as the Eye weapon fired again killing another dozen Hat'ak. He would be forced to give up great chunks of territory he would not be able to defend with such a diminished fleet after this battle, it would be at least a year before he could resume his conquest of the galaxy, a year of licking his wounds on Delmak. Damn Anubis and his mastery of the knowledge of the Ancients.

'Our scans of the shields of the flagship of Anubis show they are definitely dropping in power' a Jaffa reported.

'Anubis is going to run out of shields before we run out of ships, a victory but a costly one' Apophis replied. 'I only wish my brother were here to witness this day' he continued, almost wistfully, Ra had hated Anubis with a passion too. A few of my brother's ships wouldn't have been missed either, he thought to himself regretfully.

'Twelve Ha'tak have just emerged from hyperspace' the Jaffa told him. 'They are of Lord Yu under the command of his First Prime and are joining the battle by our side' he said. 'They say many others will arrive soon also with Yu in personal command.'

Apophis breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Anubis was likely receiving the same news with a rather different emotional response. 'When the shields of Anubis have dropped to the level where he cannot stand against the main guns of this ship bring us into firing range and we will pound his ugly flagship into wreckage' he declared smugly.

'More ships have arrived' the Jaffa reported.

'Lord Yu comes to once again join me in battle against Anubis as he did when together with Ra we drove him off before' Apophis said with satisfaction.

The Jaffa looked at his god nervously, bearers of bad tidings were often subjected to severe punishment, even torture or death. 'No' he said, voice trembling. 'It is Baal' he said.

'Baal could not have gotten here so swiftly with any force large enough to matter' Apophis responded dismissively.

'Most of his Ha'tak...' the Jaffa began then paused, 'most of his Ha'tak appear to be of a new type that has our superior hyperdrive but the shields and sensors appear to be those of Anubis, the weapons likely too' he told his god.

Apophis jumped from his chair, his face a mask of rage. 'That fat bastard Nerus that works for Baal' he seethed, 'he must have back-engineered one of our ships lost in battle' he said in fury. 'Baal must have been keeping them back for when he needed them' he reasoned.

'Baal has engaged the ships under the command of Lord Zipacna' the Jaffa told him. 'Zipacna is requesting more ships.'

'We're running out of reserves already' Apophis snarled, 'tell him I will dispatch all I can but tell Zipacna he must hold back Baal and the other ships belonging to Anubis if we are going to have a chance to emerge victorious.'

According to the Tok'ra agents monitoring the battle this wasn't yet quite the point when the battle had become epic to the point of being ridiculous, that was when Lord Yu arrived with the rest of his motherships and Baal told Anubis that a joint fleet made up of his slower ships plus those of his allies Amaterasu, Bastet and Kali were on the way too.

* * *

**Baal's Ha'tak – Delmak System – April 2003**

Baal gave the flagship of Apophis an envious look and then turned his attention onto the even larger and more impressive, if less aesthetically pleasing, vessel Anubis was aboard. The latter had to be over five kilometres across measuring pylon to pylon, it must have cost a fortune Baal decided and for that matter if it wasn't for the fact the Eye superweapon supposedly required a ship that size and configuration he would have assumed Anubis was compensating for something.

'Have you established which ship Zipacna is on yet?' Baal asked his First Prime.

'Yes Lord Baal' the Jaffa confirmed.

'I want to destroy it personally, prioritise it as a target for our main guns' Baal told him, 'I always did want to slap that smug expression off his face' he said.

'It will be done My Lord' his First Prime responded.

'And launch our deathgliders, send them against the ship Apophis is on, that'll keep him distracted' Baal ordered, 'he gets irrational and incompetent when he starts becoming enraged' he noted. It was a common racial failing that only a minority of goa'uld seemed to be immune to fortunately including himself. Many of the System Lords had played god so long they had almost started to believe it themselves, they spoke of bringing down wrath on their enemies and deluded themselves that it wasn't mere technology that made them masters of the galaxy but rather it was the natural order of things.

For his part Baal was considerably more grounded in reality, he planned ahead and was willing to work with lesser enemies in order to deal with more dangerous foes. The only other System Lord he had ever suspected was only play-acting whilst making the smart moves behind the scenes was Sokar who was fortunately out of the picture. Apophis was willing to learn from his enemies, which meant he wasn't completely deluded as to his own infallibility, but he still skirted too close to the belief he was a genuine deity.

As for Anubis he was simply insane Baal knew. Doing "evil" things just for the sake of it rather than as a means to a more rational end was the mark of a madman. It was good policy to frighten the peasants into submission, Baal wasn't averse to the occasional massacre if it was necessary, but some of the things Anubis had done in the past indicated that he didn't use terror as a tool of social control he simply _enjoyed_ being despicable. In some ways, Baal thought, the role of the devil that Sokar had played for the sake of his image was who Anubis really _was_ and that was disturbing on many levels.

'Our new ships are performing ably in battle' Baal's First Prime observed.

'They should, they're the most advanced in the galaxy' Baal replied with satisfaction. You had to admit that, although he was a disgusting slob, Nerus really was a genius at this sort of thing Baal thought to himself. The new ships had the hyperdrives, powercores and cloaking devices of the best ships of Apophis plus the upgraded sensors, shields and weapons that Anubis had supplied to his closest allies. It was a pity he only had a few of them as yet, the large majority of Baal's fleet was still made up of less capable ships, but the blame for that could be placed squarely on the shoulders of Lord Yu who had accidentally attacked Baal's main secret research complex nearly a year ago at a point when they were still allies against Apophis. The resulting damage had greatly delayed the project and to say that Baal was bitter about it, and planned to punish the senile old fool harshly for it as a result, was a gross underestimate.

'Sire, our ships and those of Anubis are winning this battle against Zipacna but Anubis is demanding that we aid him against the bulk of the enemy fleet' Baals First Prime announced after a transmission was received from his opposite number, Her'ak the First Prime of Anubis.

Baal rolled his eyes. 'Given that we would have to defeat Zipacna first before we can move to assist offer my apologies but say that _they_ might have been willing to get themselves surrounded on all sides by charging headlong into the enemy but _I'm_ not going to do that' he said. If they moved to support the flagship with the Eye weapon they would then have Zipacna and his ships behind them and _that_ wasn't going to happen.

'Sire the other Ha'tak of Anubis are disengaging from the fight against Zipacna and are accelerating towards the main enemy force' Baal's First Prime told him.

'Marvellous' Baal replied sardonically. 'Together we could have defeated Zipacna more quickly and then crashed into the flank of the main enemy fleet hard enough to put Apophis on the defensive, this disjointed piece-meal battle benefits the side with the most ships and that's not us' he growled.

'Many enemy Ha'tak are being destroyed by the Eye weapon My Lord' the First Prime told Baal.

'Unfortunately Apophis doesn't exactly suffer from a shortage of them' Baal replied wryly. Anubis put far too much faith in superweapons, Baal decided, he clearly underestimated the power of raw numbers. Supposedly that had been a failing of the Ancients too Baal recalled thoughtfully, maybe all that playing around with their leftover devices and technology had rubbed off on him?

Anubis was in fact a little too fond of superweapons, though he would never admit it even to himself. As he sat in the throne of his flagship, waiting for his latest miraculous Ancient device to recharge and be unleashed upon the next unfortunate group of motherships attacking him, he was however becoming aware that he maybe should have waited until more of his allies could have joined him in this battle. His shields were starting to drop to a level where the unusually powerful main guns of the flagship of Apophis might be able to go right through them and that would be a serious problem because although it was huge the vessel he was on was actually quite flimsy. Compared to the heavily armoured hulls of regular Ha'tak the flagship of Anubis was not very strong in terms of construction, relying heavily on its shields to absorb all incoming fire, and it would not withstand direct hits well at all, a couple of salvo's at most and it would come apart like a deathglider hit by a Heavy Staff Cannon.

It was time to call in a favour, one that he had hoped not to have to request because who knew what price it would cost him to be in the debt of a traitor to his own kind, one with obvious ambition and personal drive as well as access to technology that neither the Goa'uld nor Asgard, nor even the Ancients perhaps had developed. 'Her'ak, activate the hyperwave communication device we were given, tell our renegade Asgard friend that he was right and that I require his support in this battle after all' Anubis told his First Prime reluctantly. 'He said he would have a task-force waiting nearby for when we needed them... this will probably cost me more than just another Ha'tak in payment' he said in annoyance.

Apophis smiled, his losses were immense but he was starting to believe victory was inevitable, the hubris of Anubis in believing his wonder-weapon made him unbeatable had been his undoing. 'Lord Yu is here' a Jaffa told him, 'he has twenty Ha'tak and more than twice that number of Al'kesh' he announced.

'Request that he joins in the attack on the enemy flagship, let him lose a few ships to that weapon when it fires next instead of us' Apophis replied.

'Many types of unknown ships of strange designs are appearing from hyperspace' another Jaffa announced. 'They are attacking our fleet' he said. 'The largest type is perhaps the size of the troop transports used by Anubis, the majority are the size of deathgliders' the Jaffa continued, 'all are shielded including the smaller craft... the larger vessels are using a beam weapon of surprising power against our Ha'tak motherships' he told his god, 'the plasma they are firing seems to be similar to that of the weapons used by the creatures who invaded your palace My Lord' he added with a frown.

'Destroy them' Apophis ordered.

'We are already engaging but they are freakishly manoeuvrable and their weapons are disproportionately powerful to the size of the ships carrying them' the Jaffa replied apologetically. 'Our deathgliders are trying to intercept the smaller craft but are having great difficulty' he continued. 'The Al'kesh of Lord Yu are moving to fight them and he is launching his own deathgliders to support our own.'

'Sweep the skies free of those gnats, we cannot be distracted from our primary goal of destroying Anubis' Apophis thundered as Loki's forces entered the fray against him.

The System Lords were about to discover what the meaning of "Punch above your weight" truly was as they witnessed what even mere fighter-sized craft armed with elerium based weaponry could do.

* * *

**High Orbit – Delmak – April 2003**

When Bastet, Amaterasu and Kali arrived with their fleets and Baal's slower vessels they had to wait before joining the fight until Baal could explain roughly what was going on, who was fighting who and which ships they should be attacking or assisting. It was all _very_ confusing, a situation not helped by the fact that many of the ships on both sides were outwardly identical and there were literally hundreds of capital ships now all mixed in together in a great mess.

The majority of warships in the galaxy were now engaged with each other at often point-blank range around Delmak and to the great annoyance of Anubis he found he now had to be considerably more careful as to when he could fire the Eye superweapon because he had accidentally destroyed two of his own Ha'tak and several of Loki's ships when he fired it the last time. Precision targeting was not apparently the weapons strong point, it simply blew everything nearby to pieces, so you had to make sure that only the things you wanted blown to pieces were around.

A trio of Sectoid-piloted Type 2 Fighters, the Tau'ri called them "Spectres", hurtled past the flagship firing their pulsed plasma cannon into several squadron's worth of deathgliders belonging to Lord Yu destroying nearly half of them in a single attack run. Staff-Cannon bolts from the remaining deathgliders impacted on their electroplasmic shields but lacked the firepower to drain them before the Spectre's could break out from the line of fire, using their far superior manoeuvrability and acceleration to effortlessly out fly the relatively sluggish deathgliders.

Loki had originally started building his fleet years before powered with a basic gravity drive that was much like the one used by the goa'uld, indeed that was the sub-light propulsion method his larger craft still utilised, but he had improved upon it greatly since. The Spectre fighter utilised a superior Gravity/Induction drive system based partially on the latest Asgard designs giving it twice the effective thrust of the older engine type and therefore far higher performance. With the addition of Vector Control Thrusters for increased manoeuvrability the Spectre was a formidable dogfighter and one that the Goa'uld were far from equipped to handle.

The Tau'ri had already met the Spectre in battle and they had lost many good pilots to them, despite having in the F-302X a superior fighter to what the goa'uld possessed, but in this battle Loki had decided it was time to unleash his latest machine of war. The Tau'ri would later call it the Type 3 Fighter, or the "Phantasm" and unlike the Spectre it was intended not for air-superiority but rather it was a strike fighter, designed to attack larger vessels through a combination of stealth, improved shields and greatly improved firepower.

Also a saucer-shaped craft like its predecessors the larger Phantasm fighter was equipped with a cloaking device and to the chagrin of the goa'uld gunners trying to target them they would randomly disappear only to pop up again a short while later to attack another ship. Armed with racks of swift and hard-hitting Elerium Torpedoes the Phantasms had little trouble at all dealing with Al'kesh and they carried a new kind of plasma weapon that was inordinately effective at depleting shields.

Both the Asgard and Tollan had previously developed weaponry that utilised an element of phase-shifting to try and penetrate shields. This had worked very well until Anubis modified his shields so that neither Asgard plasma bolts not Tollan Ion Cannon could "cheat" their way through and since then everyone had moved towards a more brute force approach, everyone except for Loki that is.

Loki's new Directed-Energy-Weapon was tied directly into the advanced sensors on the Phantasm, it automatically adjusted the frequency and phase of the energy being fired, not to try and slip through the shields as before but rather to target them directly. The new Phase Cannon simply ate shields, for the same amount of power input they drained over twice as much from the shields they were fired at as the earlier Pulse Cannons still equipping the Spectre managed, making a large enough group of Type 3's a threat even to a Ha'tak especially when they worked in conjunction with their big brothers.

Measuring a mere seventy-five metres across Loki's "Battleships" were dwarfed by the six-hundred metre wide Ha'tak vessels they were fighting but when six of seven of them ganged up and fired their Plasma Beam weapons into a Goa'uld mothership that was already being subjected to the death of a thousand cuts by Phantasm fighters they were extremely effective. With shields already drained by hundreds of shots from fighter Phase Cannon the Battleship's less advanced but much more powerful Plasma Beams had a decent chance of lancing through them, overloading the weakened shield bubble at a single point and cutting deep into the hull of the target behind. As Anubis watched giants were falling to dwarves and he wondered what the Ha'tak he had previously given Loki would be able to do once the renegade had the chance to work his magic upon it.

Loki was soon losing craft however. Although being outside an atmosphere his battleships could use their shields for once, unlike when they were on one of their missions to Earth or Langara for example, they simply weren't large enough to long withstand the fury of the main guns on a Ha'tak. Once Apophis realised that he _couldn't_ simply ignore the "gnats" as he had called them he ordered several of his motherships to engage the larger plasma beam wielding enemy ships and soon Loki's battleships were being pounded to cydonium scrap, unable to withstand more than two or three hits at best before they exploded.

Unfortunately this was of course what Loki had intended to happen, he was freely sacrificing his ships to take some of the pressure of Anubis and even a modicum of relief was enough to buy more time for the Eye super-weapon to continue wreaking havoc and untold destruction on the fleet of Apophis, it was already a bloody, costly day for all sides and it showed no sign of relenting yet.

Fortunately for Baal his own close allies might have scheming harpies but at least Amaterasu, Bastet and Kali were relatively sane and tended to have some regard for his judgement. He issued orders to them to form up alongside his own ships in a proper battle formation and together they destroyed what was left of the forces under the command of Zipacna and then moved on to engage the main body of the enemy fleet.

Zipacna died on the pel'tak of his own ship, it might have been a glorious death in battle if he hadn't been trying to surrender at the time, his offer to Baal to swap sides being rejected immediately, Baal giving him a little wave goodbye before he added the ship Zipacna was on to the vast expanding belt of debris now littering the area.

'The remaining Ha'tak of Moloc are leaving the fight and escaping to hyperspace Sire' a Jaffa reported to Baal. 'Those of Ares have pulled back to fight alongside those of Lord Yu but many are damaged, they are not an effective fighting force' he continued. 'The flagship of Apophis is closing on that of Anubis... it is opening fire.'

'Well that's got to hurt' Baal observed before smiling. 'Inform the ladies the plan still stands' he said. 'As soon as either flagship is destroyed... we'll attack the other one immediately.'

'Yes Sire' the Jaffa replied with a deferential bow.

'If we're really lucky they'll kill each other and save us the trouble' Baal said brightly.

The appearance of Loki's forces had given Anubis sufficient respite both to destroy another two dozen ships, many of them belonging to Lord Yu, and partially recharge his shields as well. They were soon being fast depleted once again however as the flagship of Apophis fired volley after volley of titanic bolts of plasma against him.

A plasma bolt penetrated the shields and shattered one of the pylons that spiked out from the main body of the ship. 'Our shields are failing My Lord' Her'ak reported.

'Is the weapon ready to fire?' Anubis asked.

'It is' Her'ak reported.

'Set the weapon to fire as a concentrated beam as we did to destroy Abydos, orientate the ship so that we can fire it directly at the flagship of Apophis' Anubis ordered.

Apophis watched the ugly ship of his enemy roll in space. 'What is he up to?' the System Lord wondered to himself. 'Continue firing, he may be trying to flee' he ordered.

'We are ready' Her'ak told his god.

'Destroy him' Anubis commanded.

A beam of crackling energy seared out from one flagship and struck the other, the shield bubble resisted for but a moment before the beam penetrated and scorched through the vessel, vaporising millions of tons of metal in an instant. The beam continued on, emerging from the other side of the ship as it exploded and spearing another ship behind it destroying that one as well.

'Well so much for Apophis' Baal remarked. 'Signal Lord Yu and Ares, tell them that we're switching sides and that we had better _all_ send everything we can at that Ancient abomination before Anubis can either fire it again or get away' he declared.

His moment of triumph was short-lived as Anubis realised that everyone else had suddenly stopped shooting at each other and that only his dwindling band of remaining Ha'tak and Loki's ships were still fighting. 'I have a very bad feeling about this' he said as the image of Baal appeared projected before him.

'_Thanks for getting rid of Apophis, couldn't have done it without you_' Baal said, '_but you're the number one menace to all of us now he's gone so... what is it the Tau'ri say? Oh yes, kiss your ass goodbye_' he added with a smile.

'Sire...' Her'ak said nervously.

'I know' Anubis responded.

'Every remaining ship is now heading straight towards us' Her'ak continued.

'I know' Anubis repeated.

'Our shields are in no condition to...' Her'ak persisted.

'I _know_' Anubis growled.

'Loki's forces are redeploying, I think they mean to cover our escape' Her'ak told him. 'They are engaging... everyone' he said.

'I will not allow Baal to prosper from his betrayal, prepare the escape craft and then overload the Eye weapon' Anubis ordered. 'Send the flagship directly into Delmak at full speed, the explosion of the ship and weapon will destroy the planet' he said. 'If we took the Eyes they would pursue me to the ends of the galaxy to prevent me using them again, but if I cannot have Delmak or the Ancient weapon no one can' he declared.

Her'ak thought of the hundreds of millions of Jaffa and human slaves living in the cities below, at least it would be a quick painless end he rationalised. 'The scale of your wrath will be legendary My Lord' he said. 'It will be talked of in awe by generations yet unborn' he told Anubis earnestly.

Anubis would have agreed but his long-term plan involved there not _being any_ more generations so that piece of sycophancy was utterly wasted he thought to himself.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Given the speed of the ships Apophis was using, plus his ability to cloak Ha'taks and the sheer industrial output of Delmak, Anubis not having a very good idea of the size of the enemy fleet before he blundered in doesn't seem too unlikely. He attacked Earth at the end of Season 7 with about 30 or so Ha'tak plus his flagship and Bra'tac said this was the result of Anubis "gathering the full force of his fleet". He never had a particularly large number of ships under his command which is likely why Lord Yu could fight him for so long, he had the most powerful vessels but never that many of the things._

_I feel the need to apologise for the line "the hubris of Anubis" in the second section :-p_

_Shields in the X-COM games up until X-COM Apocalypse set in the 2080's didn't work inside an atmosphere but fighting in space Loki's fighters and warships are far more capable. Type 2's and 3's versus Deathgliders and Al'kesh is a slaughter, the Goa'uld fighters and attack craft are so outclassed it's not funny... well on some levels it is I suppose._

_Phase Cannon were the most effective alien energy weapon in X-COM Interceptor, they were basically fast-firing plasma cannon that adjusted the phase of the bolts to match the frequency of the shields they were fired at. Loki has been keeping his best toys back until now (although he's still working on even better fighters) but going up against Goa'uld capital ships he needed to raise his game. Elerium Torpedoes were the standard alien Air-to-Air missile in X-COM Interceptor, they were fast and had a decent warhead, more than enough to take out Al'kesh with ease._

_Well there's a lot less Ha'tak in the galaxy now anyway ;-)_


	45. Chapter 45

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – April 2003**

Sat in General Hammonds opposite the man himself Elizabeth Weir continued to read the file he had handed her. It had been quickly compiled from Tok'ra and Free Jaffa sources and certainly managed to maintain the interest of the reader being far from the dry situation update reports she usually scanned before heading out through the gate on a diplomatic mission to one of their allies. 'More than half the goa'uld motherships in the _entire_ galaxy?' she exclaimed. 'In _one_ battle?' she continued in astonishment.

Hammond nodded. 'It could be as high as two thirds' he said. 'The Tok'ra aren't certain how many ships who were close to the planet managed to hyperspace away intact before the explosion blew a crater in Delmak the size of an ocean' he told her. 'We know Anubis got away unfortunately but he's probably a spent force for now' the General continued. 'The Free Jaffa say they are certain only three of his motherships survived along with his Escape craft.'

'But Apophis is confirmed dead?' Weir checked.

'His ship took a direct hit from a weapon that can destroy a planet, unless some goa'uld has developed a sarcophagus that can reassemble you from your component atoms we're finally rid of that son-of-a-bitch at least' Hammond said with satisfaction. Apophis had killed an awful lot of SGC personnel over the years and the General only wished the Goa'uld's latest and final death had hurt as much as the previous one had after being tortured by Sokar.

Weir quickly read to the end of the report. 'There's a power vacuum' she said, 'the System Lords will be scrabbling to divide up the territory that belong to Apophis between them but they're generally all too short of ships to properly protect and garrison many more worlds than they already have' she said before frowning. 'Baal's mini-alliance is now the strongest power-block' she noted. 'Until one of them stabs the others in the back their combined militaries make them unassailable even if they won't be able to absorb more than a third of the systems up for grabs between them' Weir continued. 'Apophis overreached himself once and nearly lost the war before he retreated back to an empire he could actually hold, I can't see Baal repeating that mistake.'

'With Delmak destroyed Baal now has the greatest shipbuilding capacity of all the System Lords by a fair margin according to the Tok'ra' Hammond told her. 'He'll rebuild his fleet and then start to expand again.'

'Between them Bastet, Kali and Amaterasu are still stronger than he is, I can't see them allowing Baal to build up to the point where he can conquer them' Weir reasoned. 'Bastet and Kali are renowned for what they did to Sobek, perhaps Baal's head will end up next to his in Bastet's Palace one day?' she suggested.

General Hammond laughed ironically. 'That's what we would have hoped but Baal has been very clever according to a Tok'ra communication we received after that report was compiled' he responded. 'Baal has declared himself Supreme System Lord and has said that someone in his position should have another to rule the galaxy beside him.'

'He's asked one of them to become his queen?' Weir queried in surprise.

'No, he's told them that the one who proves _most loyal_ over the next ten years will become his queen' Hammond corrected her, 'becoming future co-ruler of the galaxy is a very nice carrot to dangle in front of them, they know that they'd never become so powerful any other way, they don't have his resources.'

Weir blinked. 'They'll help him take over as many systems as they can over the next decade then they'll stab _each other_ in the back when the deadline starts approaching' she realised.

'The Tok'ra think they'll christen this new arrangement in blood and conquer a couple of minor system lords on their borders to demonstrate to the rest of the galaxy where the power is now' Hammond told her. 'The only other major player is Lord Yu, he's lost a fair percentage of his fleet but most of the remaining ships and Jaffa that previously served Apophis have gone over to him.'

'Why?' Weir asked.

'Most of them were from Delmak, their families would have been there when Anubis destroyed the planet out of spite' Hammond replied. 'Lord Yu is renowned for being as much the sworn eternal enemy of Anubis as Apophis was and has declared he'll hunt him down and kill him once and for all.'

'Baal only switched sides when it suited him' Weir realised. 'If you _really_ hate Anubis then Lord Yu is the goa'uld you want to sign up with if you want vengeance' she said.

'Also Yu and Apophis were allies already so the Jaffa of Apophis probably weren't having their heads filled with anti Yu propaganda but I'll bet they _were_ getting fed a steady diet of "Baal is evil" from above.'

Weir tapped her fingers on Hammond's desk absent-mindedly for a moment. 'Do we know yet how the System Lords reacted to Loki poking his nose into their business?' she asked. 'Not that the Asgard have much of a nose to poke into things' she added with a smile.

'Well the notion of Anubis having an Asgard ally raised some eyebrows but the Tok'ra made sure everyone knew that he's a renegade who isn't affiliated to the Asgard government so hopefully that might mean they still think the Treaty is intact' Hammond replied. 'Based on what they saw of his ships the general opinion is that Loki and his forces are like the Serrakin.'

'How so?' Weir asked in confusion.

'The Serrakin are more advanced than the goa'uld but their military strength is based upon high-performance fighters not capital ships' Hammond replied. 'A System Lord that sent a handful of Ha'tak into the Hebridan system would get his head handed to him but on the other hand if it came to all-out war the Serrakin don't have the fleet of big capital ships they'd need to win' he said. 'Loki and his high-tech fighters and dinky little warships currently fall into the "pain the ass" category like the Serrakin, not the "mortal threat" one' he told her.

'Doesn't his alliance with Anubis make them nervous?' Weir queried. 'Between them they've got access to technology that certainly frightens _me_' she said.

'If they hadn't just run away from a fight it might have but the other System Lords just saw Anubis turn tail and watched Loki's largest ships get pulverised' Hammond replied. 'They also know that with the weapon and shield upgrades Anubis developed the latest model Ha'tak are a threat to Asgard ships now so Asgard tech isn't so scary to them as it used to be' he continued. '_We_ know that Baal and the rest are underestimating everyone's least favourite Asgard traitor but _they_ haven't been watching his weapons technology continually get better and better for the last four years' he said.

'Yeah, in a few more years who knows what the little grey bastard will have come up with?' a voice interrupted as the door was opened. 'Sorry for not letting you know I was coming George but I couldn't risk missing that expression on the good doctor's face' it continued.

'What are _you_ doing here?' Weir demanded to know, glaring at the familiar and unwelcome face of one Commander Russell Sharp.

'Official X-COM observer to the SGC acting for the International Oversight Advisory' Sharp replied with a grin. 'Only a temporary assignment though, I'm due to take over the Omega Site once the paperwork is all sorted out.'

'You're _what_?' Weir responded in disbelief.

'It was a mild surprise to me too but we both have Senator Robert Kinsey to thank for my glorious return after such a brief absence' Sharp told her.

'Kinsey?' Hammond queried nonplussed.

'It wasn't his intention it just panned out that way because the man talks a much better game than he plays' Sharp replied. 'I'd better close the door' he continued, stepping inside and closing the office door behind him.

Weir was having trouble accepting the situation with good reason, Sharp had only just been evicted from the program. 'I'm contacting the IOA, there's no way that they would have...'

'They weren't going to let me back, in fact I was looking at an assignment running the X-COM base in Antarctica but then fortune smiled on me' Sharp said sweetly. 'None of the nations on the IOA board, or the UN Security Council were happy about my indiscretion at Area 51...'

'The gross violation of national sovereignty you mean' Weir interrupted, glaring at him again.

'Yes that' Sharp conceded reluctantly, 'but whilst they all wanted my head on a plate they were also pissed that the United States government let Area 51 be infiltrated by rogue elements of the NID affiliated with hostile alien forces' he said. 'Now a very sensible person made a suggestion that in order to stop this security disaster ever happening again every person involved with X-COM or the SGC at all levels should be mind-probed starting of course with those with a known prior relationship with the NID.'

'As in Kinsey' Hammond stated.

'The very same' Sharp confirmed, 'he was right at the top of the list the aforementioned sensible person came up with as it happens' he told them. 'The Senator... didn't like the idea' he added with a smirk.

'I guess he wouldn't' Hammond replied, trying not to laugh. He doubted sincerely that there weren't things in Kinsey's mind that could get him thrown in prison if they were discovered by mind-probe interrogation, there _could_ be things that would get him _shot_ for that matter.

'In fact he subjected the rest of the IOA to what I'm told was a thirty minute hyperbolic tirade about personal liberty, national sovereignty and the American way of life that... well it annoyed them so much that basically they got together and decided to retaliate' Sharp told them, shaking his head sadly for a moment before grinning.

Weir groaned. 'The other countries decided the best way they could demonstrate their anger was to put you back in the Stargate program' she realised.

'Yeah, that'll show those damn arrogant Americans they thought' Sharp confirmed with an air of smugness about him. 'Of course they still didn't want a loose cannon like myself back at the SGC where I was only one rash decision away from invading one of _their_ top-secret facilities on a whim next time, but the Omega Site is conveniently off-world and it's been needing a new permanent commanding officer ever since Colonel Chekov was given the _Kuznetsov_ anyway' he noted.

Weir dropped her head into her hands, didn't they all realise what a menace this man was she wondered. 'And they actually decided to send you to the SGC as an observer until you transfer to the Omega Site, aren't they worried what the Pentagon and the President will think?' she asked.

'Well seeing as how the failing of security at Area 51 led to a superweapon falling into the hands of an enemy of the human race, who then subsequently used it to destroy a world inhabited by a human population allied to Earth, I think they doubted that the US would have the gall to complain' Sharp replied flatly. 'I overstepped the mark, but my screw-up was a diplomatic faux-pas not a major fucking disaster' he declared. 'Excuse my language' he apologised after a momentary pause.

'You're only going to be running approved military operations, they haven't completely taken leave of their senses and given you authority to get involved in galactic diplomacy and political issues have they?' Weir asked tersely.

'Oh I'm not trusted with any of that, I just get to shoot at people from an approved list of people who require shooting at' Sharp told her. 'If you're ever at the Omega Site feel free to drop into my office for coffee or a friendly chat' he invited Weir. 'My bunker is your bunker' he told her.

Hammond leaned back in his chair. 'Out of interest who _was_ it that advised the IOA to mind-probe everyone starting with Kinsey as a known NID associate?' he asked.

'Some anonymous X-COM officer, let's just call him Commander Sensible shall we' Sharp replied. 'Oh just one more thing, X-COM is going to want to borrow all the Powered Armour on the base, we need as many as we can for the mission the day after tomorrow, and you'll be getting orders from above to provide any other equipment or personnel we request' he added.

'What mission?' Hammond asked.

'We're invading Mars' Sharp replied, 'I wanted to bring tripods but we're organising it in a hurry so it'll have to be hovertanks' he said regretfully.

* * *

**X-COM BASE 2 (North America) – Earth – April 2003**

The base had two main aircraft hangers and fortunately it was the other one that was a hive of activity as last-minute preparations for the upcoming mission were taking place. While the Poor Bloody Infantry checked their weapons, inspected their armour and were subjected to "moral boosting" motivational speeches by senior officers Cameron Mitchell meanwhile was looking over his new fighter, though it was technically a loaner. 'How improved are we talking?' he asked the project lead who was stood beside him with a proud expression plastered all over his face.

Doctor Larry Murphy had been with the F-302 project since the beginning, and had been involved in implementing several incremental system upgrades over that time, but this craft wasn't just another minor enhancement in capability, it was practically a whole new warplane. 'Firstly the F-302X Tranche 2 here isn't just made of old fashioned trinium like the previous model' he began authoritatively, 'it's made from the same alloy of trinium and cydonium as the alien Type 2 Spectre fighter and you know how much more punishment that stuff can take' he said. Trinium was extremely strong and light but wasn't as resistant to plasma fire as cydonium alloy, however adding trinium to that alloy in the right proportion resulted in a material that had the Asgard recanting their prior belief they made the best spacecraft hulls in the known universe.

'I thought that alloy had to be made in zero gee?' Mitchell queried. He was sure he'd read that in a briefing, that was the reason they had taken so long to replicate it despite having plenty of salvaged Type 2 wreckage.

'It does, the Tollan made the sections for this prototype for us in the orbital yard where they've been refitting their Ghostriders with Heavy Ion Cannon' Murphy told him. 'They shipped them to us through the gate in Poland where we assembled them but we're building facilities so that we can manufacture most of the production craft ourselves' Murphy told him.

'We're building an orbital factory?' Mitchell responded in surprise.

'No that wouldn't be very high tech' Murphy replied with a wry smile, 'we're using a series of Goa'uld gravity generators to make a zero-gee manufacturing plant right here on Earth at the Yamantau facility' he told him.

Mitchell gave the engineer a doubtful look. 'You're kidding right?' he asked.

'No I'm serious' Murphy told him. 'We use artificial gravity generators to cancel out the Earths gravitational field inside part of the new factory where we make the alloy in electric furnaces and then cast the sections' he explained. 'They can crank the gravity up and down in there at will' he continued, 'while they're putting together the foundry they've got the gravity set at half a gee to make it easier to haul the heavy machinery about the room.'

'Now I know you're yanking my chain' Mitchell declared.

'I'm really not' Murphy replied with a chuckle. 'The Tok'ra helped out a lot, in fact the gravity generator designs are based on technological refinements one of their agents managed to steal from Baal' he said. 'They can completely switch which direction is down in there too' he told the fighter pilot. 'You can walk on the walls or ceiling if they set it right.'

'Okay assuming you're actually being serious all I can say is wow' Mitchell told him.

'The funny thing is the Tok'ra never even thought about doing something like that, zero-gee manufacturing actually _on_ a planet I mean' he said. 'As far as we know Baal isn't using the technology that way either' he continued. 'I guess it takes it takes human ingenuity, or insanity, to think that far out of the box' he decided.

'So she's made of the toughest of the tough' Mitchell said, reaching out to touch the prototype. 'What else are we talking about?' he asked.

'Well she's not using our copy of the elerium gravity conversion drives like on the old saucers we've been seeing since 1998' Murphy told him. 'Thanks to the Asgard back-engineering that Type 1 for us she's got improved Gravity/Induction engines that give you twice the effective thrust and better fuel efficiency too' he said. 'No more being left standing by Type 2's you'll be pleased to hear.'

'Hallelujah, as grandma would have said' Mitchell declared, raising his eyes to the heavens, or rather the hanger roof that would open up to let you fly up out of the bunker when it was time to go hunting aliens. All X-COM craft were VTOL thanks to their arcane alien powerplants.

'She's got integral gravitational Vector Control Thrusters as well so even if you're flat-out you can still slide her just like the Type 1's and 2's' Murphy continued, miming the manoeuvre with his hands.

'So if I was say going down a valley at mach 5 plus I could powerslide this baby around the bends like a sports car?' Mitchell checked.

'Yes but please don't' Murphy requested, 'you don't want to _know_ the dollar price tag on this thing' he said seriously. 'Moving to sensors she's got a new suite that combines an AESA Radar, LIDAR, OPDAR, IRST, the latest Goa'uld Scanners courtesy of the Ha'tak we got from Anubis and an Emissions Targeting System courtesy of Loki's Type 1' he told the pilot. 'I meant it, this thing costs a _fortune_ what with everything we put into it' he declared. 'It took the Asgard to figure out how to get all that stuff to work together and we're having to buy the sensor suite unit from the Tollan because we just can't miniaturise most of the components enough to fit them all into a package we can actually cram into a fighter.'

'Maybe we should see if the Aschen could produce them cheaper if the Tollan are charging a lot' Mitchell suggested.

'I can't see too many people wanting advanced Goa'uld or Loki tech ending up in the hands of the Confederation' Murphy responded.

'No but if we mentioned we were going to talk to the Aschen about that then maybe the Tollan might offer a nice discount to _stop_ that happening' Mitchell told him. 'Let that creepy Aschen vibe work for us for a change' he said.

Murphy regarded the fly-boy with a new respect. 'I'll suggest that on up the line' he told him.

'Glad to hear it' Mitchell replied. 'So what about the good stuff?' he asked. 'Shields and weapons.'

'The Tranche 2 carries Electroplasmic Shields that are a third again as strong as the ones mounted on the previous version of the F-302X' Murphy told him. 'In terms of weapons the lasers, elerium plasma beams and naquada-enhanced nuclear missiles are the same as you were armed with previously however.'

Mitchell frowned. 'What about those fancy new missiles they've been talking about at Area 51 for a while, I thought we'd be seeing them soon' he queried.

'The technology is proving... problematic' Murphy admitted. 'It might have gone easier but because of budget constraints it was decided to merge two different programs and that complicated things' he said. 'The Permeator Missile _might_ have been ready in a few more months but adding the tech from the abortive Sidestep program might mean it could be a year before we can get a working prototype even with help.'

'The Permeator is supposed to zip through shields right?' Mitchell asked.

'Yes, the original idea dates back to theoretical work that was being done before X-COM got involved in the Stargate program' Murphy replied. 'They had this idea of mounting shield frequency modulators on AIM-120 Missiles so they could penetrate Ha'tak shields and strike directly against the hull with enhanced nukes' he said. 'It was a great idea but they just didn't have enough understanding of the science' he continued. 'A couple of years further on and we're pretty certain we can get a missile through one of the older style Goa'uld shields but the new ones that Anubis came up with, and Loki's types for that matter, are going to require more R&D to get through.'

'We'll never get a missile to keep up with one of Loki's birds' Mitchell stated flatly.

'That was the reasoning behind the Sidestep program' Murphy responded. 'It added a cut-down version of the vector control thrusters to the missile so the alien fighters couldn't just break away from the missile that they saw flying up their ass with hard manoeuvring' he said. 'If we merge both systems we'll hopefully get a missile nimble enough to catch a Type 1 or 2 and that'll then go right through its shield and blow it all to hell.'

'I'll take ten' Mitchell joked.

'Not on your salary you won't even if they get them to work' Doctor Murphy replied. 'Now we're entrusting you with the prototype for the Cydonia mission to see how it performs in action' he said. 'It should be a big surprise to the enemy at first because it still looks like the old model F-302X they've seen before.'

'I'll be sure to take advantage of that don't you worry' Mitchell told him.

'We're fitting out as many Tranche 1's with Electroplasmic Shields as we can put together, maybe twenty-five or so, and we've got one of the squadrons flying out of Yamantau equipped with the vector-control thrusters, but most of the Grim Reaper's are still going to be outclassed by the Spectres we think Loki is going to put up to try and defend Cydonia' Murphy said awkwardly. 'We've done our best but...' the engineer paused. 'Really I don't think there's an engineer or tech in any of our bases who's slept since the orders came to prepare for the mission and we've worked miracles I swear but...'

'We're going to lose a lot of pilots before we can achieve air-superiority' Cameron interrupted him.

'Yes we think so' Murphy replied sorrowfully, 'the Martian atmosphere is much thinner than Earths, so the shields on Loki's fighters won't be effected anywhere near as much as they are when they're here' he said. 'Their shields probably still won't work as well as ours, thanks to our Asgard provided modifications, but unless they're lower than five thousand feet or so the Foo Fighters and Spectres likely _will_ be shielded to some extent when you fight them' he told him.

'We were already briefed on that' the pilot replied with a shrug. 'We realise we're going to hurt but we need to establish air-superiority at all costs or else the troops won't be able to land' he said. 'Look we all know, pilots and grunts included, that if it wasn't for you guys in the lab-coats back-engineering all that goa'uld and sectoid tech so we could turn it back on the bastards we wouldn't be in a position right now to attack them for once instead of always playing defence' he said. 'Don't go beating yourselves up because you couldn't figure out everything in twenty minutes, or put everyone in the latest fighter' he continued, 'you have worked miracles like you said before' he told the engineer. '_This_ is just the latest miracle' he declared, rapping the side of the new version of the F-302X _Grim Reaper_ with his knuckles.

Doctor Murphy smiled. 'X-COM Research and Development' he said. 'The difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes until tomorrow lunchtime' he joked. 'The controls are very much like what you're used to and you should find it all very intuitive' he advised Mitchell. 'I suggest you take her up and get used to the vector control thrusters though, we've had two pilots fly her already and they both say it's a little like when they switched from conventional aircraft to our old Firestorm, you need a little time to get used to being able to do new tricks.'

'You haven't done anything to the pilot interface have you?' Mitchell checked.

'No it's still just a goa'uld tech eyepiece HUD and the old standard issue mind-reading helmet linked to the navigational controls and weapon systems' Murphy reassured him. 'Nothing fancy' he said then remembered something. 'There's an extra control panel you won't have seen before' he told Mitchell. 'None of the switches do anything because we haven't managed to get the damn thing to work yet' he admitted.

'What thing?' Mitchell queried, intrigued.

'The Hyperspace Window Generator' Murphy told him. 'We've got a nice miniaturised design that already works with naquadria but the fuel is just too darn unstable so we're trying to get it to work with elerium instead' he continued. 'It'll be short range, you're talking a combat radius of only tens of light years, and it'll be pretty slow compared to most hyperspace engines too but if we're thinking of flying off carriers that'll provide the strategic mobility it'll give us a nice tactical edge on the goa'uld at least' he said.

'Faster-Than-Light drive on a _Reaper_?' Mitchell responded in amazement. 'Oh _sweet_ !' he exclaimed.

'That's exactly what Colonel O'Neill said at the briefing I gave about it' Murphy replied. 'He did annoy a few of us by insisting vociferously that we get the design team working on them to re-name the Fusion Ball weapons system "Photon Torpedoes" though' he recalled with dismay.

'You're not all Star Trek fans then' Mitchell queried in mild surprise, he had always considered that most of the X-COM geek squad were probably die-hard Trekkies.

'It's just such an insulting comparison' Murphy explained. 'A naqudria-enhanced Fusion Ball would make a Photon Torpedo from Star Trek look like a firecracker' he declared. 'But _would_ he listen to Felger when he showed him the yield calculations based on the Star Trek technical manuals and what we saw on the show? No he _wouldn't_' Murphy complained bitterly.

Mitchell stared at the engineer for a moment. 'So how would we do against the Empire from Star Wars?' he found himself asking to his immediate regret.

Doctor Murphy looked thoughtful. 'Well if you believe that clique of die-hard Warsies from X-Com Poland and their damn "Incredible Cross Sections"...' he began.

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – April 2003**

Colonel O'Neill stepped out into the corridor from the rest-room and immediately had to dodge out of the way of a small electric forklift that was hurtling too fast for safety through the complex with a number of crates loaded upon it. 'Watch it' he called out after the driver.

'Sorry Sir' the airman driving the forklift apologised as he continued on his way. 'I've got to get these to the teleporter ASAP' he announced.

O'Neill considered giving him a dressing down but he had better things to do right now. Heading for the armoury he intended to give the new "X-COM Observer" a piece of his mind, Sharp couldn't just arrive at the SGC and start conscripting anybody he wanted without asking permission from the draftees commanding officer even if only as a matter of courtesy. Andianov and Jonah were SG-1 personnel and even General Hammond would at least call in him to request borrowing them not just issue a diktat.

Reaching the armoury O'Neill found that Carter had apparently been given a detail behind his back too. She was just outside giving orders to a number of marines detailed to carry crates to the room where the teleporter was too, checking them off against a list on a clipboard. 'Those shock-grenades are supposed to end up in the South African facility' she said as a marine picked up a box. 'The spare Heavy Plasma magazines are going to Hawaii' she continued indicating another one.

'Having fun Major?' O'Neill asked his second-in-command.

'I'd rather be going to Mars Sir' Carter replied.

'Not enough Powered Armour to go around' O'Neill responded, at least that was what they had told him when he tried to volunteer. With only a limited number of the suits available only the very best soldiers with the most experience wearing the armour were going to be going on this mission and neither Carter, Teal'c nor himself met the criteria. Technically Jonas wouldn't have qualified either but they wanted the very best psionics available to help deal with any Ethereal complications and apart from Cassandra Frasier Jonas had the highest PSI scores yet recorded. Even Jonas wasn't getting a set of the armour though, he was going to have to wear an EVA suit modified with only a few plates of cydonium reinforcement being strongly advised to stay back from any fighting.

'It wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't know there was going to be another me there' Carter told O'Neill. 'I always dreamed about being an astronaut and walking on Mars and the one of me that gets to live the dream is arguably not really alive' she said.

'I'm not happy about RobO'Neill getting to join in the fun while I don't too but unfortunately the other SG-1 team enjoys the advantage of not having to breath' O'Neill pointed out.

'And they're functionally immune to psionic attack which helps a lot' Carter added. 'RobO'Neill?' she repeated with a grin.

'The nicknames stuck, your double is CyberCarter and the Sergeant Mark II is Androidanov' O'Neill told her. 'I ran into them earlier, they were passing through on their way to Area 51.'

'Consider zatting the robot and secretly replacing him Sir?' Carter asked with a smile.

'Dying on Mars as soon as the airlock opened would have been a dead giveaway Major' O'Neill replied regretfully. 'Oh well, maybe next time' he said. 'Is Sharp in there?' he asked.

'He headed for the infirmary five minutes ago' Carter replied. 'He wanted to get a top-up of all those performance-enhancing drugs he takes before he heads out.'

'As far as I know he hasn't got much more experience in Powered Armour than I do' O'Neill complained.

'No Sir, but he scores higher in soldier skills... and he got to pull rank' Carter responded.

'Hey if I wanted to inject myself with all that crap I could run the ten-thousand in his times and do as well on the range' O'Neill declared before frowning. 'Maybe I'd need to get a few years taken off in a sarcophagus too though' he continued honestly, thinking about it more carefully 'which might also leave me as deranged as he is as well' he added.

Carter smiled. 'You might want to have a word with Jonas, he looked very nervous the last time I saw him' she said.

'He was told it was a volunteer only mission I hope?' O'Neill checked.

'Yes Sir but you know Jonas, he's always eager to please' Carter replied.

O'Neill rolled his eyes. 'He's just a great big psionic alien puppy' he said. 'I swear if he had a tail it would wag every time the Weather Channel said it was a nice day for walkies outside' he continued. 'I'm going to go tear a strip off the world's least politically adept senior officer, see you later Carter' he told her, heading towards the infirmary.

Doctor Janet Frasier put down the now empty syringe. 'Don't be such a baby' she told Sharp who was pulling his pants back up.

'You did that deliberately' Sharp complained, 'it doesn't usually hurt that much' he said.

'You've said that before Commander' Janet reminded him.

'Yes but this time it felt like I was being harpooned' Sharp told her.

Janet was about to make another denial but instead she smirked. 'You deserved it' she said.

'I thought it was funny' Sharp told her.

'I haven't agreed to go out on another date yet, making jokes about me wanting to get your pants off just wasn't appropriate' Janet told him.

'Which justified you breaking the Hippocratic Oath and impaling me in the ass with a blunt needle did it?' Sharp responded.

'You'd never be able to prove anything to a medical ethics committee' Janet told him, sorting out a few pills for him to take next. 'Why did you volunteer to take the Aschen Anti-Cancer Vaccine?' she asked.

'Because some of the other stuff I'm already taking is liable to give me a tumour as you pointed out yourself and besides which I already can't have children so I wasn't as nervous about being sterilised by it if the Confederation are up to their old tricks' Sharp replied.

Janet passed him the pills. 'I've been wanting to ask ever since I saw your notes but why _did_ you have that done?' she asked him.

'The vasectomy?' Sharp responded, 'I was going to marry a girl once who was a carrier for a genetic problem, she was okay but there was a very high risk of any children she had suffering from it' he said. 'Getting me fixed was a much less serious procedure than it would have been for her' he said. 'I made sure to have some of my' he paused, 'I'll say "genetic material" frozen in case I ever did need it and then went through the most terrifying experience of my life.'

Janet laughed. 'It's a minor op' she said.

'Oh you _really_ don't understand' Sharp responded with a grimace. 'I'd rather face a saucer full of sectoids than relive that experience' he said earnestly. 'Even thinking about it makes me queasy' he complained, taking the first of the pills with some water.

'So this woman... you must have loved her a lot?' Janet asked.

'I did' Sharp confirmed. 'She cheated on me when I was on a peacekeeping mission for the UN in Africa' he said. 'She was pregnant when I got back which made me even more annoyed than I would have been otherwise' he said, popping the next pill.

'Bitch' Janet opined.

'I thought so' Sharp agreed. 'So you've had some time to think about it, and I hope I proved I can be trusted to behave in public so can I take you out again?' he asked hopefully.

'It's difficult, I mean I'm not sure' Janet replied, looking at the floor.

Sharp sighed. 'I just want the opportunity to demonstrate that I'm not the total asshole you thought I was for so long' he said. 'Don't let a couple of years of thinking the worst of me get in the way' he requested. 'Cassie likes me' he pointed out.

'Cassie also likes the fact that once you weren't in charge here any more she didn't have to work in the canteen any more' Janet told him. 'It took her about five minutes to persuade General Hammond to forget about that debt you always said she owed the organisation.'

'It was character building, I may need to have a word with George and get him to reverse that decision' Sharp responded.

'I think if you wanted her to stop saying I should let you take me to dinner again that might do it' Janet advised. 'She wouldn't forgive you' she said.

'Ah but have you forgiven me for past transgressions?' Sharp queried, with a guilty smile.

'If you think I'm ever going to forget the incident when it was you me and Lieutenant Haley in the elevator, and you made that crack about this must be how Gulliver must have felt, those nootropic drugs must have rotted your brain' Janet informed him, hands on hips.

'I'm my own worst enemy' Sharp replied sadly, 'admittedly that's because I'm pretty good at killing off my other enemies but...'

'You could get killed going on this mission' Janet noted, looking at the floor again. 'I mean all of you and permanently' she said.

'Yes, if the plan doesn't work the standing orders are to completely destroy the Cydonia base from orbit' Sharp replied. 'It's a real throw of the dice operation and we're hoping to roll at least a couple of fives.'

'You can't keep beating the odds forever' Janet told him.

'Mathematics would tend to agree' Sharp joked.

'This isn't funny Russell' Janet told him, it still felt strange calling him that. She had called him Commander three times when he took her out.

'Would you prefer it if I was more apprehensive because like I said before, I've looked into the face of fear and it's a surgeon with a scalpel heading south' Sharp replied, trying not to laugh.

Janet scowled at him. 'Human life is precious, you can't be so cavalier about it' she told him.

'Okay so how about you berate me over dinner, I know you were on your best behaviour last time' Sharp suggested.

'I was still getting over the shock of you asking me out and me saying yes' Janet told him.

'Fine then we can treat the second date as being the real one now that you're over that' Sharp replied. 'Come on, giving me something to look forward to might help bring me back from Mars' he said.

'That's like blackmail' Janet responded.

'I'm shifting tactics' Sharp replied. 'Anything that works in order to achieve the goal' he said.

'I am _not_ a mission objective' Janet told him irately.  
'You're even prettier when you're indignant' Sharp told her. 'Oh come on you know I won't quit' he said. 'You've read my psyche profile, just agree to go out with me again and you'll save yourself from being pestered relentlessly.'

'Alright I agree' Janet conceded, it hadn't been such a bad date before anyway, he was actually quite charming really she thought to herself.

'You've made me a happy man' Sharp replied. 'So does the warrior get a token of your affection when he goes out to face the dread foe?' he asked, 'a handkerchief is traditional but any piece of cloth would do... how about some of that bandage from over there?' he suggested. 'I might need something to keep some blood in presently anyway' he said.

'You aren't a knight going on crusade' Janet told him.

'I've got armour don't I?' Sharp asked.

Janet looked at him askance. 'Come here' she told him.

When O'Neill walked into the Infirmary to his surprise he watched Janet stand on tip-toe to kiss Sharp on the cheek then to O'Neill's entertainment she then slapped him on the ass presumably where she had just injected him earning a "yipe" for her efforts. 'Commander' he said, 'Doc' he continued. 'Am I interrupting something?' he asked as Janet blushed bright red seeing him standing there.

'Sadomasochism' Sharp replied.

Janet glared at him then pointed out of the door. 'Go kill aliens' she told Sharp. 'Leave me in peace'

'The woman knows me' Sharp told O'Neill brightly.

Meanwhile at the X-COM North American Base only a few hundred miles away Major John Sheppard was supervising a cosmetic addition to his Avenger Assault Transport as weapons were loaded aboard. He was going to deliver his cargo of Troopers right into the heart of the enemy base on Mars so they could rid the Solar System of the Sectoid menace once and for all.

The technician who he had persuaded to do the job finished and stepped back out of the way so Sheppard could get a good look.

'Cydonia or Bust' the pilot read out with satisfaction, the lettering painted across the nose of the Avenger. He then looked up. 'We're coming to get you, you little bastards' he declared determinedly.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_In Stargate: Continuum Baal made Qetesh his queen so it's not a huge leap for him to wed another System Lord (in a female host). Putting his three female allies in competition for his favour is a very Baal-like move I thought! If Kali, Bastet and Amaterasu are plotting against each other his position is far more secure. S__enator Kinsey had known links to the rogue NID faction and is privy to much of the secrets of X-COM and the SGC. After the Area 51 security breach screening everyone with NID connections first would be considered a sensible thing to do but I can see Kinsey resisting so forcefully he would end up angering his opposite numbers from the other nations._

_Metals of different densities don't alloy nearly as well in a gravitational field as they would in a zero-gee or microgravity environment so this super-alloy of Trinium and Cydonium requiring such special conditions for manufacture does make some sense. Regarding the gravity generators we see Baal using that technology (for a very different purpose) in episode 6:06 Abyss. They could completely change the direction of "down" within a localised area. __The shield penetrating modification to the AIM-120 missiles was mentioned in episode 4:12 Tangent. This is a very similar idea to the Permeator Missile from the game X-COM Interceptor which was designed to do much the same thing (nice crossover there I thought). The Sidestep missile from the same game was a super-manoeuverable missile type that had a much better chance of not getting dodged by the alien fighters. __At least some shield types in Stargate are apparently effected by being in the atmosphere. When Anubis took his mothership into the lower atmosphere of Langara in episode 7:02 Homecoming it was said that it made them less than 40% effective. Loki's shields are even more badly effected but the thinner atmosphere of Mars means that it's not nearly as bad as it is when he sends craft to Earth. __The naquadria powered Hyperspace Window Generator fitted to the X-302 was first seen in episode 6:01 Redemption. It didn't work very well at all due to the instability of naquadria but elerium based FTL works for similar sized fighters in X-COM Interceptor so again I'm merging some canon. Loki can already fit FTL to his fighters of course, he's ahead of the game. __The Fusion Ball was the most powerful craft weapon in the first X-COM game (over twice the punch of the nuclear missiles used by X-COM, it also had a range of 65km and a 100% hit rate once fired). It was basically a scaled-up version of the shoulder-launched guided micro-nuke called the Blaster Bomb. Adding some naquadria to the warhead whilst keeping its elerium powerplant would make it a hell of a missile because it would be very fast and very hard to avoid (a Blaster Bomb can pull a 90 degree turn down a corridor once fired!)._

_X-COM has considerably more combat personnel than sets of Powered Armour at this point so quite a few people that might want to go on the mission are going to be left out. __Cydonia or Bust was of course the name of the final mission in X-COM: UFO Defence._

_Reviews are always very much appreciated_. :-)


	46. Chapter 46

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cydonia Region – Mars – May 2003**

Teal'c landed the cloaked Tel'tak behind a mesa several kilometres away from the large structure known as the "Face of Mars" and the nearby pyramids. Emerging from hyperspace behind the moon of Phobos he had approached the planet already cloaked from the southern polar region and flew nap-of-the-earth, or rather nap-of-mars, for thousands of kilometres before eventually reaching their destination.

Jack O'Neill looked around at his team. 'Maintain radio silence' he ordered. 'You all know what you're supposed to be doing so just get to where you need to be and be ready to do your job when the time comes' he said.

'It's cold outside' Carter reminded the others, 'remember to transfer more power to your internal heaters because you don't want your hydraulics freezing' she said.

'How much will that reduce battery life?' Daniel asked.

'We're still good for at least twelve hours' Carter replied. 'You won't be able to talk properly out there either, the air is too thin.'

'Well I wasn't planning on saying howdy to the locals anyway but not being able to mock them is a damn shame' O'Neill responded sadly. 'Guess nuking them instead will have to compensate' he decided, picking up the alien-tech guided missile launcher.

Daniel picked up one of the warheads and read the legend stencilled upon it. 'Warning: Radiation Hazard' he noted.

'Relax, it's not like we can get cancer Danny' O'Neill pointed out. 'It's the minimum safe distance you should be worrying about' he said.

'They didn't add much weapons-grade naquada to the warhead Sir' Carter interjected, 'just enough to take the yield from the equivalent of a couple of tons of TNT to a couple of hundred tons' she said. 'The elerium powerplant on the missile can carry it well beyond the blast radius' she added confidently.

'Just remember that if the nuclear device goes off next to you it doesn't really matter if the yield is measured in tons or megatons, you can only be vaporised so much' O'Neill observed. 'Are you alright Sergeant?' he asked Andianov.

'I missed this' Andianov replied wistfully. 'We do not see enough action especially considering how superior we are in strength, speed and durability compared to the other SG-1' she said. 'We are treated as second-class citizens at best, they do not likely see us as anything but machines and that is not right' she insisted.

'You're not going to start quoting from that damn manifesto again are you comrade?' O'Neill asked.

'We are self-aware individuals with emotions and feelings, we are not appliances' Andianov declared. 'We are here of our own free-will fighting for humanity and the motherworld and we should be accorded the respect and consideration we deserve.'

'I'm with Lyudmila' Daniel spoke up.

'Of course you are, you helped her _write_ that damn manifesto' O'Neill replied. 'Look I already said I agree with everything you say' he told them. 'I just think we need a better name than the Sentient Engine Liberation Front' he opined.

'It's a great name' Daniel defended his choice. 'S.E.L.F. says it all because we have a sense of one' he said. 'You're also the man that put in a recommendation to rename the new United Worlds into the Democratic Order Of Planets so your opinions on naming things are suspect generally' he told him.

'DOOP is a great name and anyone that thinks differently can bite my shiny metal ass' O'Neill declared. 'What do you think Teal'c?' he asked.

'I have no opinion on the matter O'Neill' Teal'c replied.

O'Neill fixed the robotic Jaffa with a look of suspicion. 'What makes a good man go neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?' he asked.

'That's it, I'm borrowing the disintegrator ray from Harlan and turning his Futurama DVD's into dust as soon as we get back' Carter stated.

O'Neill smirked, he'd already hidden them after Carter wigged out after being repeatedly called Leela. 'Okay, let's go kill some aliens' he ordered. 'Remember to turn on your personal cloak before you leave the ship' he added.

According to the captured Sectoid Commander whose interrogation had identified the location and layout of the enemy base on Mars the "Face" and many of the tunnels and artificial caverns underneath were in fact likely a relic of the Ancients, an outpost which had likely been abandoned for millions of years before Loki decided it would make an ideal staging area for his campaign of human abduction and weapon testing.

The pyramids were a later addition by Loki himself, planning for a time when he would seize Goa'uld Ha'tak vessels, upgrade them with Asgard technology and use them as carriers for his fighter craft. It had always been his original intention to use his military machine to fight the Replicators but now they were imprisoned in a time dilation field his forces were primarily tasked with supporting his other schemes. The abduction of humans and other species for use in medical experiments and genetic research that was intended to solve the Asgard cloning degeneration problem remained of paramount importance, and although Langara was proving to be a valuable source of test subjects, with some intriguing genetic improvements over regular Earth stock, the sheer population of Earth meant it remained well worth the effort required in raiding it. Other than the Aschen capital world no other planet in the galaxy measured its population in the billions and the Confederation were just a touch too advanced to trifle with, even for Loki.

The possibility that the humans might discover this facility had always occurred to Loki, indeed he knew they had photographed it nearly three decades before, dismissing the apparently artificial features as accidents of geology, but although there were base defences he had largely relied on his greatly superior armaments technology and the sophistication of his ships as the primary means of protecting the base from attack. Over the last couple of years additional precautions had been taken in response to the rapid growth in Earth's military capability, there were now powerful shield generators in place for example, designed to help defend against orbital bombardment if necessary, but Cydonia was still far from being an impregnable fortress.

To quote one of the X-COM mission planners, the chances of anyone coming from Earth were a million to one Loki said...

... but still they came.

The two Ha'tak belonging to Earth only utilised standard model Goa'uld hyperdrives giving them a maximum equivalent velocity of a mere 32,000 times the speed of light, less than half the speed of the ships Apophis had been producing. However given that Mars was practical on top of Earth in astronomical terms the _Enterprise_ and _Admiral Kuznetov_ arrived at Mars almost as soon as they set out, appearing in high orbit and quickly manoeuvring so that they were directly above Cydonia.

F-302X fighters began launching, fifty from each Ha'tak, the fighters carrying the best available weaponry and crewed by the best pilots, they began diving towards the surface, ready to duel the enemy craft that would inevitably scramble to meet them.

On the surface O'Neill watched the sides of several pyramids start to open up, fighter bays and weapon batteries most likely he decided, raising his launcher. Thanks for letting us know where to shoot at, he thought, targeting the nearest one.

A trio of Type 2 Spectres hurtled out of the side of a pyramid, elevators already bringing up more from the hanger below. The last of the three just cleared the opening when an elerium powered missile hurtled in the other way and exploded, the explosion of the remaining elerium boosted a hundred fold by the naquada jacket that surrounded it.

Four other shoulder-launched missiles struck the same number of targets, three fighter-launch-bays destroyed and two batteries of plasma cannon taken out by the five warheads. More fighters continued to launch from other pyramids as the androids of SG-1A reloaded.

As more Type 2's headed skywards to meeting the human piloted fighters hurtling towards Cydonia Type 3 Strike craft began to launch as well and then larger concealed hangers opened and the first Sectoid Battleships began to lift off.

Daniel fired his launcher a second time, his missile streaking off and then plummeting straight down into a hanger. The detonation was followed by rippling secondary explosions that shook the Martian soil sending up plumes of dust.

SG-1A were strong enough to carry six warheads each plus the launchers and their Heavy Plasma Rifles however it soon became evident that the complex had a lot more launch-bays, hangers and weapon installations than they had ammunition to deal with although they did manage to drastically reduce the opposition forces that managed to lift off intending to contest air superiority with the humans.

As _Enterprise_ and _Admiral Kuznetsov_ began targeting the battleships with their main guns another craft dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the Martian atmosphere and headed in, preparing to offer fire-support to the fighters and then drop off its cargo. The laser-cannon turrets and forward-firing plasma beams on _Prometheus_ began slashing at the enemy craft as the skies above Cydonia became a battleground, an exchange of elerium torpedoes and avalanche nuclear missiles giving way to an enormous dogfight.

The alien Type 3 strike craft began making runs on _Prometheus_, phase cannon causing considerably more damage to the shields than the crew had expected but her defensive firepower able to fend them off for now. Colonel Ronson requested that the two Ha'tak enter the atmosphere to provide closer support to the battle and Colonels Caldwell on _Enterprise_ and Chekov on _Kuznetsov_ ordered their ships to drop down into the atmosphere where their point-defence Staff-Cannon and the Laser Turrets added to their defensive armaments could add their weight of fire to the battle and take some off the heat off the rest of the invasion force. The shields of the Ha'tak ships would be reduced in effectiveness as soon as they left the vacuum of space but they still enjoyed the inherent advantage of having powerplants that were actually larger in volume than the largest Sectoid craft involved in the battle.

Now out of the alien technology based missiles Samantha Carter looked up and watched the fight going on above. Sometimes an enemy saucer or a human F-302 would explode in mid-air, or plummet to the ground its avionics or engines destroyed by enemy fire, it was all quite beautiful and terrible to watch she thought as the battle raged.

Another kind of craft streaked through the sky, like the Tel'tak earlier it had arrived at Mars near the South Pole and then made its way in flying just off the ground at high speed. _Redemption_ was nowhere near as heavily shielded as either the Ha'tak ships or P_rometheus_ so Captain Tanner made sure not to get involved in the fight, his task was to drop off the first of the assault forces, not troops but rather tracked Heavy Weapons Platforms armed with laser cannon and rotary staff-weapons. Not needing to do anything so crude as land the crew of the Redemption simply teleported their cargo of the things out of the hold one by one and deposited them on the Martian soil where they began scouting the area, sending back telemetry and looking to anything to shoot at.

Cameron Mitchell got on the tail of a wildly manoeuvring Type 2 and found that as promised the greatly upgraded F-302X Tranche 2 was finally a match for its opponent across the performance envelope. Firing his lasers over and over again he began to knock down its shield until eventually his cannon began to bite into metal. 'One good hit and...' he said just before one of his lasers holed the elerium reactor on the Spectre and it exploded into a cloud of debris in a blinding flash. 'Hell yeah!' he exclaimed, banking his Grim Reaper and looking for another alien to scythe from the skies.

Elerium torpedoes fired from silos on the surface began to launch, targeting _Prometheus_. Multi-kiloton nuclear explosions crashed against her already depleted shields in volleys, helping drain them even faster. Colonel Ronson gritted his teeth and was about to order the ship to pull out of range when the gigantic shape of the Ha'tak _Admiral Kuznetsov_ flew past and placed itself between the BC-303 and the incoming missiles, Colonel Chekov taking some of the heat off _Prometheus_ by soaking up the incoming fire with his own ship.

'We need more support' Colonel Caldwell realised. The enemy were putting up stuff resistance and the grinding battle was using up good men and machines. Ideally they had hoped not to have to call in the Avengers in an air-combat role, they lacked the manoeuvrability of the Reapers, but another dozen ships in the air right now could make all the difference. After quickly checking that Ronson and Chekov agreed with him he ordered a hyperwave transmission to be sent back to Earth requesting the assault transports to join the battle.

Waiting in Earth orbit the Avengers went into hyperspace above the blue skies and oceans of their homeworld only to emerge high above her blood-red neighbour. Major John Sheppard led the formation into a steep dive towards the surface and the ongoing battle, shields raised, elerium plasma beams ready and the troopers in the back praying that he wasn't going to get them killed before they got a chance to get at the enemy on the ground.

Utilising engines of goa'uld design the Avenger didn't burn precious elerium to move around but that meant it handled like a Tel'tak at best, not one of Loki's saucers. Sheppard opted to simply make a high speed attack run and fire his weaponry at anything alien which happened to get in front of him as he swooped through the dog-fight at hypersonic speed. One unfortunate recipient of this treatment was a Type 3 strike fighter which had just made an attack run of its own against _Enterprise_ and had come out of it with shields depleted by the ships laser cannon turrets. As the saucer shaped craft made a high-speed turn it found itself right in the path of Sheppard who fired his plasma beams from three kilometres out, spearing the Type 3 with far more energy than its shields could take and destroying it.

It was entirely hit or miss as the Avengers ploughed their way through the air-battle, but as they turned around for a second pass it was clear that their intervention was turning the tide. The remaining alien fighters now simply had too many opponents to shoot at, those which chose to try and engage the Avengers or capital ships finding that they would soon have an F-302 on their tail.

In a months time NASA was due to launch the first of its Mars Exploration Rovers towards the planet, the little six wheeled robot named Spirit would trundle over the surface of Mars for several years though both it and its twin Opportunity were not going to be sent anywhere near Cydonia mainly because it would be very hard to explain away all the track marks being left behind by the much larger X-COM Heavy Weapon Platforms which were now rumbling towards the enemy missile silos firing continually as they went. An Elerium Torpedo was struck by a bolt from a rotary-staff-weapon just as it launched and it exploded, part of the blast heading back down into the silo destroying it and making O'Neill who was watching from a distance wince. They were trying not to destroy too much of the base ideally and it seemed likely that they had just accidentally blown part of the underground complex all to hell with that one he thought.

The F-302X _Grim Reapers_ supported by the three capital ships and the Avengers were clearly winning the fight, indeed it was the end-game, but the cost was proving high. Nearly half the Reapers had either been shot down to crash on the red soil of Mars or had simply exploded in mid air, the remains of pilot and aircraft falling like rain over the surface. Before the last few Type 2 and Type 3 alien fighters were overwhelmed Prometheus was already headed in to land, it had cargo to unload.

Normally _Prometheus_ would have been carrying fighters but for this mission her flight bays were carrying other machines. As she set down "Mega MALP" Hovertanks flew out of the hangers and then lowered themselves gently towards the ground before heading towards their destination, hovering a metre off the surface, shields raised and weapons powered. They were going to have to blast a way in for the Infantry and with estimates of the enemy forces running possibly into the thousands this was not going to be easy.

The Avengers waited until the Hovertanks were close enough to provide fire-support for the Infantry they carried and then they came into land themselves, rear ramps lowering before they touched down.

Colonel Gomez Rodrigues knew he was widely considered the best soldier in X-COM, wearing his Powered Armour and carrying a P3A1 Heavy Plasma Rifle he also realised that he couldn't possibly miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime and he switched his radio to transmit just before the Troopers began to pour out onto the ground. 'Come on you apes' he yelled out, 'you wanna live forever?' he exclaimed.

The next time he led his troopers into battle, that being against the goa'uld, they all had "Rodrigues's Roughnecks" painted on their armour.

* * *

**Cydonia Pyramids – Mars – May 2003**

Decades ago Loki had ordered the construction by his creations of several three and four sided pyramids, some of which were now fully or partially obscured by the shifting Martian sands. Starting around the 1940's his interest in Earth had expanded from merely genetic curiosity to a certain fascination with the rapid race of technological change taking place on the planet, and as the first high-powered radar signals reached to the heavens he first started sending reconnaissance craft to investigate more thoroughly.

The original "Foo Fighters" witnessed by many combat aviators during World War Two did belong to Loki, although they were far less advanced than the fighters X-COM had hung the old nickname on over half a century later. Loki's Sectoid minions and his own genius had greatly improved his weapons technology and spaceship designs since then, indeed his rate of progress far exceeded that of his Asgard brethren over the same period, but to his increasing chagrin he had to admit that the Earth humans had themselves advanced much faster than he had. The mystifying speed at which the humans seemed to leap from coal fired steam engines to controlled nuclear fission had already perplexed Loki and then watching their breakneck progress over the last five years had left him almost dazed. A hundred of their years ago they didn't even have powered flight and now they were building starships, even with the help they had received from other worlds, and the technology they had stolen, that was truly inexplicable. Unless that is the rumours that the Ancients had meddled with them a great deal culturally and genetically were true and one of Loki's hobbies was trying to prove that for the sake of scientific curiosity.

Loki had learned a great deal about war from the humans, the personal weaponry and small-unit tactics of his Sectoid and Muton creations had improved by leaps and bounds as they faced the elite soldiers of Earth and with each year his forces became more formidable. His Asgard brethren had some talent at naval warfare, fighting the Replicators so long had helped ensure their fleet was well equipped, trained and battle-hardened, but they had long neglected fighter-craft and their lack of infantry skills and equipment had hurt them badly during boarding actions. Loki had sought to remedy that weakness and had evolved a more rounded military force which could fight enemies effectively in all arenas, or at least that's what he had thought.

A copy of Loki's consciousness downloaded into an Asgard computer buried deep underground commanded the Cydonia base, freeing up the rogue Asgard himself to be elsewhere. The copy had made plans to deal with an attack on the facility but had not put enough effort into defences against a ground assault believing an aerial or orbital bombardment to be far more likely and this had now placed it in a quandary. There were a large number of autonomous fighting machines rolling around above firing at the air-defence batteries and other surface targets and the computer lacked the ability to deal with them directly. It wanted them gone and therefore ordered its own equivalent machines to be bought on-line and head towards the surface to fight them off, meanwhile it began deploying its available troops to key points assuming the humans were going to try and invade the base.

The tracked Heavy Weapon's Platforms used by X-COM looked much like small robot tanks, which is basically what they were. Armed with either a rotary-staff-weapon or a small laser cannon they were intended to provide direct fire-support to UFO Retrieval Squads and also to act as scouts for human soldiers, an HWP was expensive but it was far less of a valuable asset than an experienced Special Forces soldier. Their counterparts in Loki's forces were the Cyberdisc Hovertanks and the large bipedal Sectopod robots which now started to emerge from doors which opened in the sides of the various pyramids. Mounting powerful elerium plasma weapons and with tougher armour than the human built HWP's the Cyberdiscs and Sectopod units were soon starting to punish the invader and as their numbers grew and grew the HWP's were rapidly being dispatched.

The Heavy Weapon's Platforms were of course bait and the defenders had swallowed it. As the fight seemed to be going very much Loki's way the much larger "MegaMalp" Hovertanks which _Prometheus_ had landed arrived on the scene and proceeded to lay waste to the Cyberdiscs and Sectopods in short order. Usually deployed against either very large formations of Jaffa, or else Goa'uld fortifications, the new machines were far to large to be carried by an Avenger, they only just fitted through a stargate at its widest point, and hence they had not been encountered by Loki's forces before. Shielded, and also heavily armoured underneath in any case, the new combat vehicles that entered the fray could easily one-shot any of Loki's machines with their heavy laser cannon and they simply took out one after another with impunity as their shields absorbed any incoming plasma fire directed against them.

Another machine was watching the fight with interest, this one being much more intelligent than the others although some who had a casual acquaintance with him might possibly have doubted that. As the various fighting robots duelled the android known as Jack O'Neill, or sometimes irreverently RobO'Neill, found to his great amusement that with his personal cloaking device still engaged he could use his Heavy Plasma Rifle to snipe the Cyberdiscs with impunity. They exploded with just as much pyrotechnic ferocity as he remembered from his mission against Loki's base in South America and it was a lot of fun taking the things out. As long as he moved after every couple of shots and avoided getting run over by all the hardware rolling and flying about, O'Neill could take out target after target and having plenty of ammunition and little else to do he indulged himself. 'Your rampaging killbots are no match for _our_ rampaging killbots' he cackled to himself after a three-round burst from his rifle detonated the power-core of another cyberdisc. I should check with Carter that I don't have a preset kill limit, he thought, diving out of the firing line of a Rotary-Staff HWP which was sending a storm of fire into a Sectopod, the repeated hits eventually blowing off one of its legs. The low gravity made the robots collapse to the ground less dynamic than it would have been on Earth but the thrashing of its remaining leg was far more energetic until more firing from the HWP put it out of its misery.

Following the destructive wake of their hovertanks X-COM Infantry in Powered Armour began bounding in, firing as they went. Weighing just over a third what they would have on Earth the bulky suits gained a considerable boost in mobility and long loping strides had quickly eaten up the ground between where the Avengers had dropped them off and the battle. Finishing off the last of the Sectopods and Cyberdiscs with a hail of plasma they quickly deployed to secure the area and the leading squads began moving towards where they knew there was a suitable access point to the labyrinthine complex below.

Armoured blast doors had sealed over the main entrance, this might have been a problem for a less well equipped military force but a naquada/potassium demolition charge soon blew them open again and after throwing in a varied assortment of stun, fragmentation, concussion and goa'uld shock-grenades to make sure the area behind was safe to enter the first X-COM soldiers made their way inside.

The eight Avengers assigned to the mission had dropped off just under a hundred and fifty soldiers between them but as the area around Cydonia became secure reinforcements began to arrive. The captured Goa'uld Al'kesh usually used to transport naquada ore from the asteroid mine in the Oort Cloud landed between two Pyramids and began dropping off additional troops via its rings, firstly another twenty-five troops in Powered Armour and then two dozen more support personnel in EVA suits.

Jonas Quinn was relieved to find out his EVA suit was much less of a pain in the ass to wear once he was away from the one-gee artificial gravity field that had been present whilst aboard the Al'kesh but he would have still been much happier to be wearing something that wasn't so fragile. As he looked around he turned towards the "Face of Mars" and realised he was looking at an artefact that was likely millions of years old and sculpted by the Ancients, the famed gate-builders themselves. 'Doctor Jackson would be jealous' he decided as he was beckoned to follow a number of others heading towards another of the structures.

Powering down their personal cloaks SG-1A went to join the humans. Dressed much as they would be on any other mission they very much stood out for their lack of EVA suits or Powered Armour and the android O'Neill couldn't help but make a comment via his internal radio that "Oxygen was for wimps" as he took off a boot and shook out some of the Martian dust which had gotten into it.

Commander Sharp had also arrived with the Al'kesh and after assigning the flesh and blood Andianov to make sure Jonas remained alive he then acknowledged the gears and wires version who had trotted over to meet him before making his way towards Colonel Rodrigues. Given his greater experience in fighting Loki's troops over the past couple of years Colonel Rodrigues was now in tactical command of the mission and Sharp was relegated to being one of the reserves as they prepared to take the enemy base. Fighting Jaffa was not the same as fighting Muton's and Sharp had freely admitted that despite his name he had lost his edge a little whilst at the SGC so he was more than willing to be the one taking instead of giving orders for a while.

When the news came that the gravity elevator down into the complex was in their hands X-COM sent in the few remaining HWP's first as scouts and then began to follow them down into the unknown to take the fight to the enemy in his own lair. Resistance was expected to be heavy, the price to be paid high, but determination, self-sacrifice and righteousness of cause would win the day the troopers knew... and if those weren't enough the lavish application of extreme firepower was always a sure-fire winner anyway.

* * *

**Cydonia Base – Mars – May 2003**

Goa'uld weaponry, or to be more specific zat'nik'tels and plenty of Shock Grenades, make reconnaissance by fire a workable doctrine even if you're trying to avoid collateral damage. As the X-COM Troopers started to deploy into the base from the base of the gravity elevator shaft they made considerable use of the proven tactic of putting their P3-A1 Heavy Plasma Rifles around the corner of the next corridor they came to and blind-firing rapid zat discharges down it before ever thinking of taking a look themselves.

Colonel Rodrigues used a small mirror as a makeshift periscope to check the way ahead was clear before he led his team onwards. Passing a sectoid which had caught a hit from a zat and was now lying on the metal floor unconscious he paused to shoot it again to make sure it wasn't ever going to get back up before proceeding.

The sounds of plasma fire echoed down the corridors from the south indicating another team had run into heavier resistance. It continued for a minute or so before a very large explosion rattled the complex indicating one side or the other had fired one of their guided micro-nukes, perhaps in an attempt to end the fire-fight, but the continued shooting that followed indicated it hadn't achieved that objective at least.

Another sectoid, this one carrying a plasma pistol, stepped out into view perhaps twenty-five metres ahead and had just enough time to realise its mistake before Rodrigues blew a hole in it with his rifle, the bolt of green plasma creating a wound large enough to put your arm through. Another sectoid emerged firing a Heavy Plasma Rifle wildly in the direction of the Colonel but only managed to ruin a few sections of wall plating before its right leg was blown off by return fire and it hit the ground screaming.

Rodrigues shot the writhing clone with a zat discharge to shut it up and then left it to bleed out. 'Looks like a major crossroads up ahead' he told his troops, some of the corridors were much wider than others indicating they likely went somewhere important and had a lot of traffic. 'I'll take Alpha Squad forward, Richter you take Bravo Squad to the left, Gaston you go right with Echo' he ordered. 'These aren't Jaffa Gaston, don't play with them, or taunt them, just kill them' he added to laughter.

Gaston grinned behind his armour, he was the youngest squad leader on the mission and had worried that he might have missed out because he had been on assignment to the SGC when it had been ordered but fortunately it was decided he hadn't been there long enough to go rusty and his known high psionic resistance and plenty of proven ability in the field had earned him command of Echo squad. They had given him one of the most experienced NCO's however to keep an eye on the young officer, Sergeant Nash was twelve years older than he was and had been fighting the bugs almost as long as Rodrigues himself being a "99" who had started out in X-COM before the days of personal armour or the earliest laser weapons, the era when losing three quarters of an assault team in combat was routine.

The Cydonia facility was vast with several levels. According to radio chatter other squads had already come across great cloning chambers where Loki created his armies and as Jake Gaston led his half dozen troopers forward another group reported finding what they described as a small underground jungle filled with alien plantlife and also it seemed a number of the hated Chryssalids who had killed two troopers before they could be bought down with zat fire and then put down for good with a few head-shots. After that rather than proceed onwards through the clearly dangerous area the Squad leader had thrown in incendiary grenades to flush out anything else hiding amongst the thicket. When four more Chryssalids had then emerged from the inferno in close proximity to each other they were summarily gunned down with obvious glee judging by the tones heard on the radio.

Gaston felt something alien skitter across his mind. 'Psionics' he growled. 'Powerful too, we've got an Ethereal around' he told his squad as the alien telepath tried to get into his mind and then failing began probing the rest of Echo squad.

'Go fuck yourself' Sergeant Nash thought with determination as the Ethereal connected with him. One of the criteria for getting on the roster for this operation was proven resistance to this kind of meddling and Nash had faced psionic attacks from Ethereals and the smarter types of Sectoids numerous times. 'Party tricks aren't going to work, this is a _real_ fight you skinny bastard' he continued, keeping mental focus to keep the thing out.

Nava Eitam squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for her turn. Her psionic strength was just at the limit of disqualifying her from this mission and it was only really the fact she was one of the best at using a goa'uld handheld healing devices that got her into the Cydonia operation. Even after the injection of some naquada and goa'uld genetic markers into your system so it worked at all only a small number of people seemed to have the ability to use the devices with any skill and even then it took extreme focus months of continual daily practice to become proficient as Nava had done. 'Someone had better be ready to zat me' she told the rest of Echo as the Ethereal began probing her mind.

The nearby Ethereal found the human female a little too strong to take control of her mind but it required far less effort to panic one of the creatures it knew sending waves of psionically induced fear in her direction. Far more intelligent than most Sectoids, let alone the hulking Muton footsoldiers, the Ethereal was physically weak but mentally it was extremely strong with greater psionic ability than any human from Earth. It tore into the females pitiful mental defences and began to rend terror into her psyche. It was unfortunate however that it's telepathic efforts had attracted the attention of a human that was _not_ Earth-born and just as the female was about to crack the Ethereal itself was struck by the feeling of impending doom.

Jonas Quinn had dealt with Ethereals before, the most senior of their officers had almost as much psionic strength and skill as he did, but almost just wasn't good enough as he tore through the aliens mental barriers and reached inside the things mind. Loki had begun his second campaign of abductions against Langara because he had learned of the little quirk in divergent evolution that made the humans of that world a little smarter and a fair deal psionically stronger than human norm but he hadn't used his research to make a better Ethereal, concentrating instead on starting a whole new creation that was taking a while to perfect.

Nava didn't know why the attack against her suddenly stopped but was grateful it did and suppressing a shudder, and trying to ignore the icy feeling still running down her spine, she told the rest of the squad to stop pointing their guns at her. 'You only wish it was one of you probing me with something that wasn't your mind' she told them as Echo Squad started moving again.

The computer copy of Loki's consciousness had inherited one overriding trait from its progenitor this being a desire for self-preservation and it was for this reason that it had mustered almost all of its best available forces to guard itself. The bulk of the defenders had moved to protect the computer core rather than the other parts of the base such as the factories, assembly lines and in particular the hangers where only a few stragglers tried to hold back a large proportion of the X-COM forces who were tasked with capturing as many craft as possible, and it was the drive towards the computer that was costing the human soldiers the most in lost blood and equipment.

Broken suits of Powered Armour leaking blood and hydraulic fluid littered a path through the base. Some of the dead troopers might still be intact enough to be saved, or rather bought back, by a sarcophagus but enough had already either been blown apart completely, or taken direct hits to the head, to make the butcher's bill for the day would be high.

The deeper into the complex they went, approaching their final objective the harder the fighting became. Bolts of bright green plasma hurtled along corridors destroying metal or flesh, zat'nik'tel fire and grenades adding to the mayhem.

As the lead units were worn down by the relentless battle the reserves began to move up to take their place. Even though they were managing to kill or incapacitate large numbers of Loki's soldiers for every X-COM trooper the sheer grind of the battle was starting to tell and when Colonel Rodrigues realised that if this lasted much longer he was going to have to start throwing the men and women wearing nothing but EVA suits into the fray he made the call to start using naquada/potassium demolition charges to start opening up new ways through the complex, hoping that the roof was going to stay up and that the collateral damage wouldn't be too severe.

Although small by the standards of nuclear devices the naquada/potassium charges still had yields measured in the equivalent of hundreds of tons of TNT and the first certainly made the base shake underfoot as it blasted away a section of wall and the rock behind it. The detonation of a second device opened up a breach right into the heart of the enemy position and Rodrigues led a mishmash of survivors from several squads through the billowing clouds of smoke and dust using the Infra Red sensors in their helmets to see.

A mix of Ethereals and Sectoids clearing suffering from the concussive effects of the explosion were the first opposition that the Colonel ran into and then immediately ran over, some of them simply being smashed aside by X-COM Troopers who Rodrigues led in an attack on the rear of the main body of the defenders who were holding the main corridor and a few cross-passages that secured the way towards the computer core.

Commander Russell Sharp had eventually found himself on the front line and was just starting to wish he was only fighting Jaffa not these tough bastards when the enemy in front of him seemed to crumble. 'Gomez just hit them in the ass' he realised triumphantly. 'Don't give them time to get their shit back together and form a new line' he shouted. 'Hit them hard now and don't stop moving' he declared, starting to advance at the run firing repeatedly from the shoulder with both zat and plasma fire.

Figures came sprinting through the billowing dust. 'Chryssalids!' someone cried out. 'Kill those fuckers' he added as a storm of fire cut down the aliens as they sprinted towards the human soldiers intent on slashing them open and implanting one of their young.

Echo Squad had been securing a hanger and had managed to avoid too much hard fighting until now but as Gaston led them on a long winding run through the complex towards the main scene of the action he ran right into the path of a number of Mutons who seemed to be heading the same way from another part of the Cydonia base. Finding themselves almost tangled together Gaston was extremely grateful that he was wearing his Powered Armour when one of the genetically engineered aliens knocked his rifle aside and tried to tear him apart with its bare hands.

Gaston grappled with the thing for a few moments then found himself in the right position to deliver a head-butt, bringing his armoured helmet forward as hard as he could into the things face smashing it and covering his visor in blood.

The young officer was about to start punching the thing when a bolt of plasma blew half its head off, adding its brains to the mess already over him. 'Stop fucking about Sir' Nash told him, lowering his rifle. 'We don't have time for the Marquis of Queensbury rules' he told him wryly.

'If they had anything down there I'd have hit him below the belt' Gaston responded, trying to wipe his visor clean, the other Mutons had already been quickly dispatched.

'I thought when you yanks fought dirty it was ear biting but I guess the helmet stopped you doing that' Nash replied.

'Have you ever tasted Muton blood Sergeant?' Gaston asked rhetorically, 'I'd sooner stick a piece of Chryssalid on a grill and eat that' he said seriously. 'Come on Echo Squad' he yelled, 'Up and at 'em X-COM!' he exclaimed, starting to run towards the fighting once again.

Nash sighed and followed with the rest of the squad, the enthusiasm was all well and good, he thought, but maybe it would be for the best if Gaston was killed in action a couple of times to cut down the lapses into full-blown peppiness.

One of the drawbacks to making his creations smart enough to operate with some degree of autonomy, and a certain degree of personal initiative on the battlefield, was that they were also intelligent enough and sufficiently self-aware to suffer from morale problems when things were going badly for them. As such when the defenders started to fall apart in terms of order and organisation they also started to flag in terms of bravery and with the assistance of a few mental suggestions from Jonas a few cases of panic and distress began to deteriorate into a complete rout.

The last few instances of determined defence were encountered in the last few hundred metres of passageway leading to the computer core. Fortunately for Colonel Gomez Rodrigues the smooth metal floor plating was ideal for rolling Goa'uld Shock Grenades and the attackers simply kept bowling them down the corridors, sometimes ricocheting off walls to go around corners, until the last of the return fire ended and they could finish the job.

A sealed door barred the way but was soon blasted open with C4 and after pitching in another Shock Grenade Colonel Rodrigues, always one to lead from the front, stepped through into the chamber where the computer core was situated.

Using external speakers the copy of Loki's consciousness soon began appealing to not be destroyed, assuming that the human was going to open fire but instead Rodrigues listened for a while before starting to laugh, they were going to destroy the damn thing, it was valuable technology with valuable information residing within it, they weren't going to mind-rape the computer version of Loki and then maybe introduce a nasty little computer virus which would hopefully take a long time to kill it so it got to suffer.

The fighting tailed off and eventually ceased as the last of the aliens was dealt with. Upon receiving the all-clear the Ha'tak _Enterprise_ prepared to land on one of the pyramids in order to deploy additional troops, technicians and engineers to secure the facility.

A hyperwave transmission was sent back to Earth, text only as an Avenger carrying a pair of X-COM Troopers in EVA suits landed on the highest point of Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the Solar System. "_Be pleased to inform the Secretary-General on behalf of X-COM that the flag of the United Nations flies uncontested over Mars_" it said simply as the flag was raised.

A few days later a metal plaque was placed on the base of the pyramid where _Enterprise_ had landed.

HERE MEN AND WOMEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH  
FIRST SET FOOT UPON MARS  
MAY 2003  
WE CAME IN WAR FOR ALL MANKIND

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_In X-COM: Apocalypse set in the 2080's the pressure group that was campaigning for equal rights for robot AI's was called S.E.L.F. and I could see the SG-1A Androids wanting more consideration too. __Jack O'Neill was a huge Simpsons fan with Homer his favourite character, in keeping with the Matt Groening theme his robotic copy has come to prefer Futurama and prefers Bender... machine character development! __I hope you all appreciate the War of the Worlds and Starship Troopers references._

_Nice little battle between Heavy Weapons Platforms, Cyberdiscs and Sectopods on the surface before heading down. The Mega-Malp uses the same Laser Cannon as is carried by the F-302X, it's far more powerful than the ones usually carried by a HWP._

_Better than the Apollo 11 plaque I thought!_


	47. Chapter 47

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Omega Site – PX0-999 (Terra Nova) – May 2003**

Kate Heightmeyer had never stepped through the stargate before but her sense of wonder was abruptly replaced by mystification then dismay when she emerged from the wormhole at the other end facing a sheer concrete wall. She looked around and realised she was in a completely empty square chamber ten yards on the side with no visible exits and she was completely alone with only the stargate for company which promptly powered down. 'They sent me to the wrong planet' she cried out aghast, there wasn't even a DHD.

Heightmeyer looked around frantically but then laughter from above caused her to look up and she found she was at the bottom of a twenty metre deep pit with railings at the top and several men and women in uniform looking down at her. 'Get me out of here' she called up to them.

'No can do Doctor' someone called back, 'you'll have to come to us' they said, laughing again.

Before she could reply Heightmeyer felt the ground beneath her move and then it became obvious that both the stargate and herself were resting on a platform which now began to rise quickly to bring it to the level of the people looking down on her. 'Some kind of trick you play on every visitor?' she asked as the platform reached the top of the pit and it became obvious that it was sunk into the floor of the huge underground chamber she had been expecting.

'Yes Ma'am' a grinning lieutenant in USAF uniform replied, 'but technically it's just a standard security measure' he said. 'If you'd care to step off the platform we can send it back down' he told her. 'Any uninvited guests to the Omega Site thinking it's going to be easy to take over are going to find themselves in a hole with grenades being dropped down on them' the lieutenant explained, 'maybe Shock or Stun grenades if they're lucky, otherwise frags or incendiary' he said. 'We can put a lid on the top of the pit with a forcefield too if we need to contain something, it seals hermetically' he added.

'I thought the Tollan stargate here already had a built-in forcefield for protection itself already?' Heightmeyer queried remembering reading that in a briefing note somewhere. She got off the platform and it immediately began dropping back down.

'It does, and one of our trinium/titanium alloy irises just in case' the lieutenant told her. 'We just like the extra level of security here' he added.

'So I see' Heightmeyer replied, noting that there were also several automated weapons turrets set up to defend the complex from incursion via the gate and a dozen guards armed with a mixture of laser, plasma and projectile weapons. It was either extreme caution or paranoia at work she thought to herself. She was at least well used to these attitudes after a few years involvement with the military, eventually becoming attached to the Stargate program as one of the small team of psychiatrists who helped look after the mental health of the often stressed or traumatised SG teams.

'Oh and we can fill the pit with heavier-than-air nerve gas or flood it with boiling oil or acid' the lieutenant remembered.

Definitely paranoia, Heightmeyer decided after realising he was being utterly sincere.

The round chamber with the pit in its very centre was huge, easily a hundred times the floor area of the gate room at the SGC with a domed ceiling that reminded her of a cathedral. A trio of large hovertanks was parked against a far wall and a collection of Mighty-MALP armed robot probes and standard X-COM HWP's of various types was nearby. 'Was this place modelled on the secret lair of a Super Villain from James Bond?' Heightmeyer joked.

'Think larger scale, although we do sort of have a dungeon' the Lieutenant replied with a shrug. 'If you'd care to follow me Ma'am I'll take you to the Commander's office' he told her, leading off.

'Aren't you going to verify my identity?' Heightmeyer asked.

'You were scanned for weapons or the presence of a Goa'uld symbiote in the pit' the officer replied. 'And you were also subjected to a low-level psionic screening' he added.

'Without my permission?' Heightmeyer responded indignantly.

'Just a surface scan, nothing intrusive into your memories' the Lieutenant told her. 'The Omega Site is run entirely on X-COM security principles now, we all get deep-scanned and checked by a Tok'ra za'tarc detector when assigned here and we're subject to random re-testing.'

'That must cut down on volunteers' Heightmeyer observed.

'If you've got nothing to hide you have nothing to fear Ma'am' the officer replied evenly. 'Area 51 might have been compromised and the SGC has been subject to alien takeover but the Omega Site is secure' he said.

The terminus for a small underground railway was at the exit of the chamber but the Lieutenant told her the Commander's officer was only a couple of hundred yards away so they wouldn't need to wait for the next train. The complex had been growing in size for over a year and a half now and between tok'ra tunnel crystals and naquada/potassium blasting charges it was so easy to carve the base out of the rock that the engineers had probably gone a little over the top.

'How far down are we?' Heightmeyer asked, intrigued as they walked down a corridor that looked very much like one at the SGC.

'About two miles below the surface' the lieutenant told her. 'Most of the base is down at this level but of course the aircraft hangers and the missile silos aren't too far below ground by comparison' he continued. 'We all try and get up top every couple of days to see the sky and get some sun' he said. 'Terra Nova is a very nice planet, great climate.'

Heightmeyer knew that only a couple of hundred personnel were ever based here. It might be an underground bunker but they certainly weren't crowded in here. The place was already supposed to be considerably larger than Cheyenne Mountain and Area 51 combined and they were now carving out sufficient space for additional barracks and storerooms that could provide accommodation and supplies for thousands of people long-term. It was the ultimate bolt-hole if Earth fell to hostile alien attack, it also housed a considerable arsenal of naquada-enhanced nuclear weapons that would be subsequently dropped on the homeworlds of whoever was responsible as well.

It had been intended originally that the Omega Site would see a large influx of personnel this year, with manufacturing lines established there, but from what Heightmeyer had heard it now looked like they were going to be assigned to Cydonia instead. Loki's former base had been captured largely intact from a structural point of view and after a preliminary inspection by a team of scientists and engineers they had recommended it was well worth converting the existing large underground hangers and workshops to produce Earth warships instead. Hopefully once Atlas, the second BC-303 being constructed at Area 51 was completed the crews would be able to transfer to Mars and begin to work on subsequent capital ships.

'So how do you like the new boss?' Heightmeyer inquired.

'No opinion' the lieutenant replied.

'I was only making conversation, I'm not here to evaluate anyone' Heightmeyer told him.

'With all due respect Ma'am you're a shrink, it's all mind games all the time' he responded flatly.

'What makes you think so?' Heightmeyer asked.

'My girlfriend back home is a psychology major' the Lieutenant told her knowingly. 'We're here' he said, reaching a door and knocking before taking his leave.

Kate Heightmeyer hadn't known quite what to expect but finding Commander Sharp wearing Bermuda shorts and a khaki t-shirt, stood on a chair hanging a display case on the wall behind his desk hadn't been high on her list. 'Does that look straight to you from over there?' he asked her.

'Um... yes' she replied after a pause.

'Good' Sharp replied brightly, stepping off the chair. 'Take a seat Doctor, I haven't been putting my dirty footprints on that one' he said dusting his off before pulling it nearer to his desk and sitting down. 'So how can I help you?' he asked. 'If this is a surprise psych evaluation I'm feeling quite sane today' he told her.

Heightmeyer sat down, she had met the Commander before at a symposium held at Area 51 that was discussing the effects of the severe PTSD that was endemic amongst X-COM Troops but on that occasion his clothes hadn't been quite so informal. 'I'm not here for that Commander' she replied, 'although this is regarding your mental health and that of your people' she said.

'I'm not going to stop taking the drugs and I won't recommend that any other X-COM soldier does either' Sharp responded curtly.

'It's not about that either, although we're still not sure about the long-term effects on your minds that will result from all those nootropics' Heightmeyer replied. 'This is about counselling' she said.

Sharp sighed. 'Of course it is' he said.

'I don't think you're setting a good example' Heightmeyer told him. 'The same is true of all the other high-ranking X-COM officers' she continued, 'because _you_ don't ever seek help dealing with your psychological trauma it means that doing so is almost frowned upon' she said. 'It's a culture which stops people seeking the help they need because if they see someone like myself, or even one of the padres, others in their units mock or deride them for being weak.'

'Doctor the only reason some of the troops are still functional is precisely _because_ they don't spend much time being introspective' Sharp stated. 'It's not misplaced machismo it's good policy' he opined.

Heightmeyer raised an eyebrow and gave him a disparaging look. 'Do you really believe that?' she asked.

'Yes' Sharp replied. 'If X-COM Troopers were totally sane, rational and balanced they'd never get out of the Avenger' he said. 'Do you know how many _permanent_ fatalities we suffered taking the Cydonia Base?' he asked rhetorically. 'The crazy is what kept us in the game.'

'We're no longer in a situation where X-COM UFO Retrieval Teams are going to be seeing that kind of action on a regular basis Commander' Heightmeyer pointed out. 'With Loki driven off Mars and the orbital defences soon to be deployed over Earth it's not going to be the same bloody campaigns any more' she said. 'We can start considering the long-term well-being of our men and women in uniform' she said. 'Or in garish shorts for that matter' she added with a smile.

'Technically I'm off-duty but I also got behind in doing my laundry' Sharp explained his apparel. 'Blood is a bitch to wash out' he said. 'Little fire-fight over on P3X-367 yesterday, I ended up using a dying Jaffa for cover and he bled all over me' he explained.

'Did you lose anyone?' Heightmeyer asked.

'No' Sharp replied, 'we took a couple of wounded but the base sarcophagus fixed them up good as new' he said happily.

Kate Heightmeyer smiled. 'That's the point' she said. 'Fighting the Goa'uld isn't like fighting Loki's creatures, you don't have to treat your soldiers the same way to get them through the next battle' she noted. 'With less dangerous aliens you can afford to start acting more... human' she told him.

Sharp looked at her. 'Take a proper look at the display case I was hanging on the wall when you arrived' he told her.

Puzzled the psychiatrist examined the glass fronted wooden box more carefully, it seemed to contain small gold symbols which took her a moment to recognise. 'Those look a little like the insignia on Teal'c's forehead' she said.

'Each one cut from the dead body of a First Prime belonging to one Goa'uld or another' Sharp told her. 'The boys and girls collected them for me' he said.

Heightmeyer was horrified. 'That's appalling' she said.

'That's psychology' Sharp responded, '_my_ kind of applied psychology' he told her. 'I want to make the System Lords too _scared_ to fight the Tau'ri' he said. 'I want their Jaffa slave armies to fear us like the wrath of god, to believe that if they attack Earth or its allies then I will rain unfathomable death and destruction upon them.'

'Why?' Heightmeyer asked, almost shocked by the intensity in his voice.

'Because Earth needs to punch above its weight' Sharp replied, 'we're still drastically outgunned in capital ships and the Goa'uld still control most of the galaxy' he continued. 'The thing we do better than anyone else is ground combat and I'm going to unleash something on the System Lords they've never seen before' he said. 'Once I start putting veteran X-COM Troopers through the gate in platoon strength, _company_ strength with artillery, armour and air-support _then_ we'll start to see real results' he told her. 'Fighting Loki has moulded X-COM into a sword, it's been honed to a razor's edge and while it's still _got_ that edge, while our forces are still at the very peak of capability, battle-hardened, ruthless and frankly vicious as hell, I'm going to plunge that sword into the guts of the enemy' Sharp declared, eyes blazing. 'You can give my people all the counselling they need after I'm finished with them which will be after I'm finished with the Goa'uld.'

Heightmeyer blinked. 'They're not tools or pieces on a playing board' she said.

'They're weapons, just like me' Sharp responded. 'I appreciate your concern Doctor but it's been a wasted trip if you were intending to ask me to encourage the troops to accept your help' he said before his expression shifted to a smile. 'Now if you'd like the ten-cent tour of the base before heading back to the SGC I'll happily oblige' he offered. 'I will need to detour to the laundry though' he continued apologetically, 'I need to transfer my clothes to the drier, they should be finished in the washing machine by now.'

Sharp got up and retrieved a pistol belt with an empty holster which he put on. 'We all go armed here at all times' he told her, opening a drawer on his desk and taking out a plasma pistol. 'Custom job' he said, holstering it, 'trinium handle with my rank-insignia embossed onto it, present from the armourers at Yamantau' he told her. They were making a matching pair of the things for the gunslinging Sergeant Andianov at his request with the XSGCOM 1 badge on them instead, he thought she'd get a kick out of it and he really _did_ care about his people, he was just willing to sacrifice them for the greater good more readily than basically nice, caring people like Heightmeyer would ever countenance.

* * *

**Ruins of Vis Uban – P4T-3G6 – June 2003**

'This place needs a name change' O'Neill opined as they trekked from the stargate towards what seemed the most intact part of the ruined city. Jonas had been explaining to SG-3 accompanying them on the mission that Vis Uban translated from Ancient into "Place of Great Power" but looking at the state of it now "Place in need of redevelopment" suited it better. 'How about "Visitors advise Urban Renewal" instead?' he suggested.

'From what we can tell it wasn't ever finished Sir' Carter responded. 'As far as we know this was the last city that the Ancients ever built before the plague destroyed their civilisation' she said. 'That's why it was the very last in the list of gate addresses that you uploaded to the SGC computers when you were carrying their library of knowledge around.'

'An experience which was only mildly to be preferred to when we all caught the damn plague from that defrosted Ancient in Antarctica' O'Neill replied, he still wasn't entirely convinced that they shouldn't all be wearing hazmat suits for this mission. 'Jonas are we sure that the Lost City is going to have what we need to beat the Goa'uld once and for all?' he asked.

Jonas had been taking pictures with a digital camera as he went. 'It's the "City of the Lost" not the "Lost City" Colonel' he replied. 'I know we mistranslated it from the tablet we found on Abydos at first but after checking with Doctor Jackson's notes from Heliopolis I'm pretty sure I've got it right now' he said. 'This was going to the be the new capital of the Ancients so it's likely all their best stuff was here and if they abandoned the city in a hurry because of the plague there's certainly a good chance they left a lot of it behind.'

Carter nodded. 'Considering all the other stuff we know they just left lying around, including almost all the technology that enabled the Goa'uld to dominate the galaxy, Jonas could have a point' she agreed. 'They were very bad at clearing up after themselves' she said. 'We've already got a team scouring the original Ancient sections of the Cydonia Base Loki took over to see if there are any nice pieces of hidden Ancient technology to be found there.'

'The haul of Loki tech they found was good enough for me Carter' O'Neill replied. 'All that Elerium and those new fighters for us to take apart' he said gleefully. 'Finally we get Phasers' he declared enthusiastically.

'Phase Cannon Sir, they're calling them Phase Cannon not Phasers' Carter corrected him, 'and it could be a long time before they figure out how they actually work' she noted. 'Regarding the elerium although we captured the base stockpile intact we still have no idea how Loki makes it' she said. 'We might be okay now for a couple of years but all the elerium we burn for fuel or powering weapons is still irreplaceable' she said.

Killjoy, O'Neill thought to himself. 'I still think we should call them phasers' he told the others.

'You managed to get our first Ha'tak named _Enterprise_ Colonel, isn't that enough?' Carter asked with a sigh.

'Perhaps you are unaware of this O'Neill but in the Star Trek prequel series called Enterprise the ship carries weapons that are themselves called Phase Cannon' Teal'c announced.

'They are?' O'Neill responded, 'well cool, I can live with that then' he said in a rather more chipper tone of voice.

Andianov muttered something in Russian that she quickly indicated to Jonas she didn't want translated, the way she said it and the way she rolled her eyes meant the meaning was fairly self-evident anyway, she prided herself on being the least geeky member of SG-1.

Colonel Reynolds and the rest of SG-3 ignored the banter, it was well known that SG-1 were weird and foolishly getting involved in their chit-chat was the road to insanity. Not so much an exploration team like SG-1 or SG-2 they were the people who the other teams bought along to provide fire-support and they did it very well, earning the reputation that if it was going to hit the fan then you wanted the Marines of SG-3 along to back you up. They weren't sure why the hell they had been assigned to this obvious cake-walk, and Breytenbach the sole X-COM member of the team was already looking very bored, but at least it wasn't raining Reynolds decided as they followed O'Neill's people towards the city.

O'Neill told SG-3 to wait outside the city and scout around while he led SG-1 into the streets and alleyways of what had once been a major metropolis, but now reminded him more of the sort of dilapidated places archaeologists were enthusing about when he went to the wrong channel on cable. They had begun seeing signs of much more recent human habitation as soon as they arrived but towards the centre of the ruins they came across a large number of people that Carter and Jonas theorised were some nomadic tribe that had set up home in the more intact areas of Vis Uban.

'Greetings' Jonas began. 'We're travellers... from a planet called Earth' he announced himself to the current residents. 'Well I'm from another world called Langara and Teal'c here is from Chulak but three of the five of us are from...'

'Jonas you're confusing the locals' O'Neill told him. 'Hi folks' he greeted the people now all looking at the interlopers nervously.

'You came through the chappa'ai?' one asked, he seemed braver than most and approached them.

'Yes the chappa'ai, the stargate' Jonas confirmed.

'My name is Khordib' the one who had spoken introduced himself. 'He is Jaffa' he added, pointed to Teal'c.

'I no longer serve the Goa'uld' Teal'c stated. 'I am of the Free Jaffa allied to the Tau'ri of Earth' he declared.

'We have heard recently of the Jaffa Rebels from traders and other travellers' Khordib replied. 'My people have long moved between the worlds fleeing the oppression of the Goa'uld' he said.

'Smart move' O'Neill told him, most primitive peoples avoided the stargates thinking them the source of evil and the System Lords had encouraged the belief because it kept most humans conveniently bottled-up on their own homeworlds. 'Hey Teal'c your guys must be getting famous' he told his friend.

'Indeed O'Neill' Teal'c replied, pleased at that though his expression didn't shift. The increasingly numerous Staff-Rifle armed Free Jaffa forces had launched many successful attacks on the System Lords over the last two years, emerging victorious from the overwhelming majority of battles thanks to superior tactics and a basic weapon that was simply much more likely to hit what you fired it at.

A man that O'Neill would have correctly pegged as the tribal elder and leader emerged from a tent looking like he had been enjoying an afternoon nap. 'Shamda these are travellers like us' Khordib told the elder.

'No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust them' Shamda replied.

'Don't judge a book by its cover' O'Neill responded sagely.

'Enemies promises were made to be broken' Shamda countered.

'And yet, honesty is the best policy' O'Neill observed.

Shamda was not about to let this stranger out-wisdom him. 'He that has too many friends has none' he said.

'Ah, but birds of a feather...' O'Neill began.

'I'm unfamiliar with that story' Shamda interrupted, 'what lesson does it teach?' he asked.

It has to do with flocking' O'Neill replied, 'and togetherness' he continued, 'and to be honest, I'm not that familiar with the particulars myself' he said. 'The point is, we're not your enemy. Give us a chance to prove it' he requested.

'This place is not our original home' Khordib admitted, 'but we have been here for some time now' he said. 'If you wish to lay claim…'

'No we just want to look around and learn a little more about your people if we may' Jonas told him. 'We're explorers and seekers after wisdom' he said.

'The only thing worth seeking' Shamda commented. 'Lives come to an end, homes and possessions can be lost...' he said.

'but knowledge passed to the next generation is eternal' O'Neill interrupted him this time.

Shamda bowed his head in affirmation. 'Our people can carry little burden with them when we move on but our minds carry everything else we need' he said. 'If you seek wisdom from this place we ask only to share what you may learn' he said.

'I'm not sure your understanding of physics is up to it but okay' O'Neill agreed. 'Carter do you think we could maybe get one of those UNHCR teams in here to maybe give these people a medical check-up and maybe some relief supplies?' he asked his second-in-command. 'They did okay with the Free Jaffa' he recalled.

'Good idea Sir, the IOA like the Hearts and Minds stuff' Carter agreed. 'When we dial the SGC with our preliminary report we can suggest it to General Hammond.'

'There's writing in Ancient all over the place' Jonas noted, pointing to a nearby column. 'I might need to call in a lot of help to record it all and translating it could take months' he said.

'Months?' O'Neill responded with a groan.

'Most of our people that are best at translating Ancient are already earmarked for the Heliopolis expedition' Jonas told him.

'Couldn't we steal a couple of them?' O'Neill queried. 'I mean if it comes to a fight between me and the guy they put in charge of that I can take him' he declared. 'He's in his eighties.'

'Chronologically Sir but when they decided that Doctor Littlefield was clearly the man for the job and took a look in his medical file they thought it might be best to take off a few years' Carter replied. 'They've been putting Ernest in a sarcophagus for a few hours once a week and once he's considered fit enough they're going to inject him with the Aschen anti-aging vaccine' she said. 'Catherine Langford is going to get the same treatment, she refused to let him go through the stargate without her again.'

'Well they owed him a few years back after he got stuck on that rock for half a century' O'Neill reasoned. It was amazing the poor bastard had ended up as sane as he did after all those years alone.

Colonel Reynolds appeared. 'Colonel' he said to O'Neill. 'We were scouting around like you said and you aren't going to believe what we found out there' he said.

A figure wearing the same clothes as the locals was following on behind Reynolds and another member of SG-3. O'Neill stared for a second. 'Daniel?' he said.

'In the flesh' Reynolds confirmed, 'I poked him to check and he poked me back' he explained. On Abydos Doctor Jackson had been far less corporeal.

'Arrom' Khordib said. 'We call him Arrom it means "Naked One" because that's how we found him in the forest two moons ago' he explained.

'He doesn't remember who he is' Reynolds announced.

O'Neill frowned. 'Okay' he said doubtfully, 'Jonas could you take a look?' he requested.

'Sorry?' Jonas responded.

'In his mind, use your Psi Amp' O'Neill explained patiently. 'It could be a clone, a robot or something else' he said.

Carter approached Daniel as Jonas unhooked the Psionic Amplifier from his belt. 'It's okay Daniel, we're just going to make sure you're okay' she told him soothingly.

'Do you not recognise us Daniel Jackson?' Teal'c asked.

'I'm sorry' Daniel replied, he was now watching Jonas and the strange device nervously.

'Maybe he was kicked out for disobeying the Ascended rules like Anubis was only more thoroughly' Carter suggested. 'He said on Abydos the others were basically pissed at him interfering' she reminded them.

'With his memory wiped?' O'Neill queried.

'Well they didn't wipe all the knowledge of the Ancients from Anubis's mind and look where _that_ got them' Carter replied reasonably.

Jonas scanned Jackson's mind. 'It's a mess in there but I think it's him' he said. 'If anything I'd say his memories are scrambled and disconnected not erased' he said. 'He's not wiped, it's more like his processor can't access his hard drive properly if you want an analogy.'

'But why is he here?' O'Neill asked.

'Because the Ascended Ancients knew that Jonas or someone else would eventually translate the Tablet we found on Abydos and come here' Carter reasoned.

'Well why couldn't they have just dumped him naked at the SGC?' O'Neill asked. 'Okay, maybe his last request before expulsion from paradise was "don't dump me off naked at the SGC, let me get some clothes on first before you get me back to my friends" or something' he surmised after giving it more thought.

Daniel wasn't quite following much of the conversation but for his part he couldn't exactly say that he liked being called "Naked One" so the strangers argument did resonate a little.

Sergeant Andianov passed Teal'c her rifle and then walked straight across to Daniel. She kissed him on both cheeks and thinking that Americans clearly had no idea how this was supposed to be done she then hugged him.

A beaming smile on her face Andianov broke off the hug and turned back to O'Neill. 'Should I stun Doctor Jackson for transportation back to the SGC Colonel?' she asked.

'I don't think that'll be necessary Sergeant' O'Neill told her.

'It is good to have you back' Andianov told Jackson before returning to take her rifle back from Teal'c.

Jonas was smiling as well although a little voice at the back of his head reminded him that he had Jackson's old office and if his memory came back he might want that back too.

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – June 2003**

Sitting at his desk General Hammond watched the holographic projection of Earth spinning on its axis in front of him with a number of red satellites now also being projected around it in a variety of orbits. The projector itself was a modified Goa'uld device which they had been playing with at Area 51 for a while and it could now be used to produce just about any image you wanted it to by simply plugging it into a regular laptop. 'Deployment of the ZapSat's will begin tomorrow' Doctor Bill Lee told Hammond. 'Since this will require the use of the other stargate and its DHD there may be some disruption of the SGC schedule for a few days I'm afraid but it's simply the easiest way to get them all up there' he said. 'They're currently transferring the units to the Omega site via the gate in Poland and once they're there an Avenger will carry the Polish gate into Earth orbit ready to receive the first ZapSat once they're in position and have plugged in the DHD making that gate the Earth Alpha' he told the General.

'Are we really calling them ZapSats?' Hammond asked.

'The nickname stuck but officially they're still L.D.O.'s or Laser Defence Orbitals' Lee replied, pressing a button on his laptop which changed the image being projected. 'As you can see each L.D.O. is a self-contained unit about fifteen yards long that can _just_ fit through the diameter of a stargate when they've got their solar panels folded in' he said. 'They're designed to look a lot like photo-reconnaissance satellites so if anyone sees them up there they'll likely just assume they're not on the official lists because they're someone's secret spy birds launched in secret' he noted.

Hammond nodded. 'What kind of firepower are we talking?' he asked.

'Enough to take out a Sectoid Battleship with one shot' Doctor Lee replied. 'It would take several firing together to be a threat to a Ha'tak but we're launching twenty of them in the first batch so any small scale Goa'uld assault is going to get shot to pieces' he said. 'The satellite contains twelve Orbanian naquada generators which power the shield, the capacitors for the laser and the cloaking device.'

'Cloaking device?' Hammond asked quizzically, this was the first he had heard of that.

'Yes, it's a copy of the one fitted to the Tel'tak we purchased from the Tok'ra' Lee explained. 'If an attack is deemed imminent all the satellites will cloak and then reposition themselves' he said. 'As soon as they start firing, giving away their location, the cloak will drop and the shield raises instead' he continued, 'if the enemy start firing at the satellites they're designed to automatically increase the proportion of their reactor capacity which is being shunted into the shield.'

'Reducing the rate of fire' Hammond reasoned. More power to the shield was less to the beam capacitors taking them longer to charge. 'Still it's better than letting them get taken out completely' he decided. 'The targeting systems and scanners are taken from salvaged ships belonging to Loki correct?' he asked.

'Yes, they tried to use as much off-the-shelf equipment as possible to reduce costs but with the shields and cloaking devices each ZapSat still costs a fortune if you include the R&D expenditure' Lee replied. 'The second batch will bring the unit costs down but affording them still means that the third BC-303 definitely isn't going to get built now, there's likely to be at least six months break in capital ship production before they start building the first of the intended X-304's at the new shipyard at Cydonia' he said.

'The best defence is a good offence' Hammond observed. 'Do we have any news on the naquadria based satellites?' he asked.

Lee chuckled. 'Well they say we've finally got a reasonably safe manufacturing method for producing liquid naqudria but you can't exactly mass produce the stuff because the process of changing one allotrope of the stuff into the other requires a very ginger touch' he said. 'I heard that the Tollan blew a new crater in their moon trying to come up with a faster method, no casualties fortunately they were smart enough to be running the experiment remotely.'

'But there's progress?' Hammond checked.

'Let me put it this way, we could be looking at beam weapons that make elerium powered ones look like my laser pointer' Bill Lee enthused. 'You'd definitely want them mounted on unmanned platforms, because as we thought liquid naquadria is even less stable than the normal kind, but as a power-source it's awesome' he said. 'It'll burn through Ha'tak shields in seconds' he told Hammond.

'Or blow up on firing' Hammond replied.

'Yes that's also possible' Lee admitted. 'The L.D.O.'s aren't nearly as powerful but they're much more reliable' he conceded.

Hammond checked his watch. 'Thank you for the update Doctor Lee' he said, 'now if you'll excuse me I have to attend a meeting with SG-1' he told him. 'If you could give Walter a list of all the times you expect stargate mission activity to be effected by the use of the other gate he'll make sure it all runs smoothly' he said confidently.

For some reason although his memories were frankly swiss-cheese and only returning in dribs and drabs Daniel Jackson had discovered he could not only still read Ancient he actually seemed to understand it much better than he had before, soon correcting the translation Jonas had made of the tablet using Jackson's own notes.

Feeling extremely self-conscious Daniel listened to Jonas as he went through the initial findings of the mission to Vis Uban. 'Oh, so, uh…There are extensive writings' Jonas began. 'All of them are in the oldest known Ancient dialects. All of them have yet to be translated but, uh, so far, we haven't found any signs of any advanced weapons or power sources' he said. 'I mean, the original name of the city is Vis Uban which does translate as place of great power but there's no indication that we're going to find any means of defeating Anubis there' he told General Hammond and the rest of SG-1 sat around the table.

'You're not' Daniel said, looking at the tablet again. 'It's not the Lost City' he announced.

'How do you know?' O'Neill queried.

'Uh, because Jonas translated lacun to mean 'of the lost' and it doesn't say that' Daniel replied. 'I know you said you used by notes but I was way off' he continued, 'it _does_ say the Lost City not the city of the lost like you thought originally.'

'But how did the Ancients lose one of their own cities?' Jonas asked in confusion.

'They didn't' Daniel replied, 'they _made_ it lost' he said. 'Made it so other people looking for it couldn't find it' he explained. 'I'm guessing that they camouflaged it and removed all reference to it from the written history' he said.

'The Nox hide their city behind an advanced cloaking field' Teal'c noted. 'It is likely the Ancients had a similar technical ability, perhaps they did the same?' he suggested.

'So. The lost city is…still lost? O'Neill asked.

'I'm pretty sure' Daniel replied. It was odd but the longer he found he was with these people the more flashes of memory he got. It wasn't anywhere close to filling in the massive blanks but he was becoming certain that these genuinely were his closest friends.

Chief Master-Sergeant Harriman knocked and entered in a hurry. 'I'm sorry to interrupt General but we've just received an urgent message from Langara' he announced. 'The major cities of Kelowna, Tirania and the Andara Federation have all come under massive attack by Loki's forces' he told them. 'According to reports ships are landing and thousands of alien troops are attacking civilians, killing them or dragging them off' he said. 'The combined three airforces have been completely unable to stop them despite Kelowna launching several of their new Surface to Air Missiles armed with naquadria warheads.'

Jonas Quinn looked shocked to the core. 'Langara can't fight a full-scale invasion' he said, 'we're at least half a century behind Earth even with your back-engineered alien technology.'

'It sounds more like a massive raid than an actual invasion for now but both Tirania and the Andari say they have received an ultimatum via radio that they should surrender and allow their citizens to be taken without a fight' Harriman told them. 'They both told Loki to go to hell' he added.

'My people will fight' Jonas declared.

'It's bolt-action rifles against plasma weapons Sir' Carter told Hammond. 'All three militaries have a few jets and rocket-powered fighters based on technology we gave them but most of their aircraft are still propeller-driven, they'll be slaughtered if they try to stop Loki's ships landing.'

'Would that stop _us_ trying?' O'Neill asked rhetorically. He was willing to bet that the three militaries on Langara were doing their duty despite the losses, he had read plenty of reports about the casualties their equivalent of X-COM had taken fighting the aliens already not to give them the respect they deserved.

'They're asking for urgent assistance Sir' Walter told Hammond.

'We can get together a few teams, get the available X-COM people moving but do we have the numbers?' Carter wondered aloud.

'Get everyone' O'Neill said.

'I'm sorry Colonel?' Hamond replied.

'Get _everyone_' O'Neill repeated with emphasis. 'The Optricans probably have whole battalions they can send immediately, and they've got plenty of high-tech kick-ass weaponry of their own' he began. 'Pangar, Tagrea and Orban have decent enough militaries too, not up to our standards but they've all been training them to fight a possible alien invasion' he said. 'Hell, ask the Tollan, they've got troops and you never know' he said. 'If nothing else they can get hold of the Asgard and say we could really do with some ships to keep Loki's fleet off our backs, the Tollan have got the power-generation to dial inter-galactic whenever they want, right?' he asked Carter who nodded.

'Do you think they'd come?' Jonas asked desperately, 'all these worlds?'

'If they ever expect one of the other planets to help _them_ if they're ever in the same situation they'd damn well better' Hammond declared, standing up. 'Walter after you dial the Omega site and tell Commander Sharp we need him and his troops dial up the Optrican's next, they've got the largest best equipped military we know of, they're already combat-hardened from fighting the Bedrosians and they owe us a favour for helping them whup the Goa'uld worshipping idiots anyway' he said. 'Colonel get every SG combat team we can muster ready, I'll talk to the Pentagon and the IOA.'

'I'm not sure what's going on' Daniel told the others in confusion.

'Well Danny Boy I might be wrong but hopefully we could be setting a precedent that if you attack one human world in the galaxy you'd better be prepared to fight all the others too' O'Neill replied. 'Maybe, just maybe, the United Worlds is about to go to war' he said.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Kate Heightmeyer was the mission psychiastrist/counsellor on Stargate Atlantis. She should be with the Stargate program by this point and I could see her taking a proactive approach by trying to persuade Sharp to accept counselling to set an example. Hope you like a few of the security precautions at the Omega Site._

_Vis Uban was the world where the Ascended Ancients dumped the now de-ascended Daniel Jackson in episode 7:01 Fallen after they stopped him dealing with Anubis in episode 6:22 Full Circle. __Ernest Littlefield was the scientist that was stranded on Heliopolis in 1945 and didn't get away from the place until SG-1 arrived in 1997. After over fifty years poking around the site he seems like a good choice to go back there once you've given him a few more decades of life (the Aschen anti-aging vaccine doubles human lifespans incidentally). Littlefield had been engaged to the archeologist Catherine Langford before be went through the gate in the 1940's, she was due to die in 2005 but thanks to all this alien tech they now have she's got a few more years left in her yet!_

_In episode 7:02 Homecoming it was Anubis that attacked Langara seeking naquadria, here it's Loki seeking human subjects now he's cut off from Earth._


	48. Chapter 48

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Kelownan Capital – Langara (P2S-4C3) – June 2003**

It was a calm day but the low grey clouds resting high over the city threatened rain. The streets were filled with people looking up but not because of an interest in the weather, there were other things to be seen these days in the skies of Kelowna and the two other nations that between them occupied the rest of the planet.

The conspiracy nuts had been right after all, they weren't alone in the universe and the government had known about it all along. All the stories of alien abductions were true and now they were under major attack by hostile forces that didn't come from Tirania or the Andari Federation but from the stars themselves.

Stories of strange black government aircraft that could take off and land vertically were true as well, they were called "helicopters" and their design had been provided by other aliens to help Kelowna and her neighbours fight back against the alien abductions. First Minister Valis himself had gone on the radio to announce that the three Great Powers had been conducting joint military operations for months now, combining their resources to better counter the new enemy. The military build up and increases in defence research spending had not been in preparation to fight each other but rather to fight a joint enemy, the people were now told. Combined Special Forces teams comprising the finest soldiers each nation could offer had fought dozens of actions against the invader in secret, taking heavy losses but never giving up.

New jet and rocket powered interceptor fighters had apparently shot down several alien craft in the past, but that was when the enemy came in small numbers and even the combined airforces and very best aircraft the planet could offer had now been easily swept aside. Spaceships now landed with impunity in towns and cities across the whole world, and beings that could easily be described as monsters had begun to slaughter the populations. They were also abducting hundreds of people for what the First Minister described as obscene medical experiments... and for food.

Whilst many hid at home, or tried to find shelter, the more intrepid were looking up watching the continuing efforts of their military to stop the invader. Strange saucer-shaped craft hurtled overhead with primitive propeller-driven Kelownan fighters trying to engage them in futile but heroic attempts to protect their homeland. Bright green beams of energy destroyed the slow-moving fighters with ease but the fighters still continued to try and protect the capital.

Stories circulated that the enemy had been destroying railways to prevent the army from being moved to the cities, tens of thousands of troops based at the border had resorted to forced-marches and seizing civilian vehicles to try and reach the cities at the heart of the nation but it would take days for most of them to arrive. What mechanised units there were in the Kelownan Army had been slaughtered from the air as they raced for the capital, and it was said burned out tanks and trucks littered the highways.

The batteries of anti-aircraft guns that ringed the capital might have provided some protection from Andari bombers but in the current conflict they were only being fired because the government thought it might be reassuring to the public. Even with the recent introduction of radar controlled gunnery and proximity fuses, probably more alien technology the people now thought, they hadn't managed to hit a single enemy aircraft despite firing tens of thousands of shells. Nevertheless they had continued filling the skies with explosions for hour after hour never letting up until suddenly they all became silent at once.

A trio of small saucers which had been buzzing the city now suddenly veered off and began climbing away at high speed. They had nearly reached the clouds when a ball of bright white came hurtling from above and blew one apart, the other two receiving the same treatment seconds later.

Something impossibly huge appeared as a shadow above the clouds, it continued downwards parting them until it came into view. It must have been fifteen-hundred metres long and had a gleaming surface that caught the light like mercury.

It said something for the speed of an Agard warship that it was actually far quicker to send an O'Neill Class ship all the way from the Ida galaxy to Langara than it was to send a ship there from Earth. This one had in fact performed a "short" detour en-route to pick up some passengers as had the other two identical ships that were heading for the ther two capital cities on Langara.

Accompanied by a high-pitched sound the great ship started to project beams onto the ground, small craft began to appear as if from nowhere in one of the great parks in the centre of the city where the beams set down and with bystanders watching incredulously human figures started to appear beside them in a series of bright flashes. For all their technology the Asgard had no soldiers to fight Loki's forces in the streets, they could not target Loki's ships at much more than point-blank range either and with only three ships available they could not possibly hope to drive the invader from the whole planet. What they could do however was provide transportation to those that could.

In a bunker deep under the city Commander Hale of the Kelownan military was briefing the new arrivals, some of whom had arrived via the stargate that was situated inside the complex but the most recent had appeared in a flash of light and with a pained expression less than a minute before.

'That can't be good for you' the Optrican officer stated as she got her bearings. Less than an hour ago she had still been trying to get his unit together but since then she had been teleported aboard an alien spaceship, flown across a fair chunk of the galaxy at ludicrous velocity and had now been teleported once again straight into a conference with several humans born on different worlds throughout the Milky Way. 'Brigade Leader Husn, 2nd Optrican Air-Mobile Brigade' she introduced herself. She was wearing a helmet with a clear visor that was currently flipped up, a black uniform with some kind of flexible body armour and had a bulky pistol and some other unidentified equipment on her belt.

'I am Commander Hale, Chief of the Kelownan Defence Staff' the ranking local soldier responded with a nod. 'These officers are Commander Sharp and Colonel O'Neill of Earth' he continued, indicating his companions. 'The Pangaran has yet to arrive although we are told they are preparing to send an infantry regiment and the senior Orbanian and Tagrean officers have yet to escape our First Minister who insisted on speaking with them' he explained.

'You'll want to avoid that' O'Neill whispered to the Optrican, Valis the head of the Kelownan government was nice enough but it was a time to get things done not deal with gushing thanks for being here.

Brigade-Leader Husn had known that Langara was fairly primitive, at least two hundred years behind Optrica technologically, but seeing that they were monitoring and coordinating the defence of their world by having men and women push tiny models around a huge map of the planet whilst being handed notes of scraps of paper by runners really bought that home. 'First Regiment is being unloaded up there at the moment' she informed them, pointing at the ceiling. 'Once we've made sure everything still works we'll be ready to deploy as requested' she said.

'How many gunships have you got?' Sharp queried.

'Gunships? You mean our Assault Craft?' Husn checked, earning a nod. 'Only two Regiments worth in total, the third in the Brigade is still stuck in Bedrosia along with most of the rest of our Army' she explained.

'How many per Regiment?' O'Neill asked.

'Fifty Assault Craft, one squad of infantry each' Husn replied.

Commander Hale looked at the map as another model was pushed into place above the Andari capital city. 'That must be another Asgard ship arriving' he said.

'That should be carrying our Second Regiment' Husn told them.

'And what of the additional forces from Earth?' Hale asked Sharp and O'Neill pointedly.

'Hey, we told you that towing _Prometheus_ slows down an Asgard ship' O'Neill responded before Sharp could say something unpleasant. 'It's still the only way we could get her here quickly' he continued, 'our hyperdrives would take days, maybe weeks to get here.'

Husn was still looking over the map, the situation was entirely too weird but staying professional and military was the safest way to stay sane, her government said that they were sending Optrican boys and girls to fight aliens on another planet and they gave the orders. The Asgard on the ship had helpfully projected holograms of their opponents during their brief voyage from home which at least gave the troops an idea what they should be shooting at, beyond that they were relying on their training, hardware and combat experience.

'Seen much action Brigade-Leader?' O'Neill asked the woman, he guessed she was in her early forties but with better medical technology she might be older of course.

'Yes' Husn replied. 'Fighting Bedrosians not aliens though' she admitted.

'Just kill the things trying to kill the local civilians and yourself' Sharp advised. 'And shoot them a lot because they take quite a bit of killing' he added.

'So we were told' Husn replied. 'We think our pulse-guns should be able to handle them but if not we've got a particle beam thrower per squad' she told them. 'We use them to take out armoured vehicles normally' she said, 'bitch to carry, the backpack weighs a ton' she said.

'Particle beam thrower?' Hale queried.

'Think "Death Ray" if that makes it easier' O'Neill advised.

'The governments here are telling everyone we're on their side and not to shoot at the people in the strange uniforms right?' Husn asked.

'Via radio and telegraph' Hale confirmed.

Husn grinned. 'Telegraph?' she repeated. 'How quaint, do you use signal flags too?' she asked.

'Don't mock less advanced societies' O'Neill cautioned as Hale scowled. 'You don't want to lose the moral high ground when the Tollan patronise _you_' he told her sincerely. 'Which they will' he added.

Commander Sharp looked over the map himself, it was a big step down from the "Geoscape" system of interactive electronic displays X-COM used on Earth to do this job but it had a nice retro Second World War feel about it that would only increase once the third Asgard ship arrived. It was bringing not only _Prometheus_ but a cargo of F-302's and a couple of Avengers as well and it might be fun to order squadron scrambles much like it was done during the Battle of Britain he decided. 'I might give First Minister Valis a few pointers on a speech he might like to give on the radio' he said randomly.

'A speech?' Hale repeated, looking confused.

'There's a good one about fighting them on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the streets and never surrendering he might want to borrow' Sharp replied, 'he can credit the man that said it first later' he suggested.

*** * ***

**City of Penticton – Langara (P2S-4C3) – June 2003**

Standing just inside the alley between two brick apartment buildings the Kelownan Sergeant worked the bolt of his rifle then leaned out and took aim with his rifle, lining up the crosshairs of his telescopic sight. The damn thing stood in the middle of the road next to a burned-out car had its back to him less than half a block away and he was never going to get a better shot so he made sure to make it count.

Only the day before he had watched an officer empty a full drum of ammunition from a sub-machinegun into one of these creatures only for it to shrug off the bullets, turn around and blow him practically in half with a single shot from his own weapon. The green suited behemoths wore armour that easily deflected mere pistol bullets, and even full-power rifle rounds were woefully inadequate the sergeant knew from experience but sometimes you got lucky and if he hit the alien in the head it might get the job done.

Behind the sergeant the rest of his platoon, or rather the three that were left of them, hoped he knew what he was doing. They had been skirmishing for the better part of three days practically non-stop and they were tired and short of ammunition. They still had a couple of rifle-grenades left, which had at least proved reasonably effective, but they were saving them for when things got truly desperate.

The sergeant pulled the trigger and was rewarded almost instantly by the sight of the alien stumbling forward as the copper-jacketed supersonic bullet slammed into it. It didn't go down at first, merely staggered, but at least it didn't return fire and the Kelownan soldier quickly worked the bolt again to shoot it again, this time right in the face as it turned towards him dazed.

Whether the second shot was fatal or not the sergeant didn't know, but at least the enemy dropped and he ducked back into the alley. 'Got the prick' he said. 'Let's get moving before more turn up' he told them.

'I'm hurting sarge' one of his men told him, the bloodstained bandage tied around his right thigh showing where he had been injured by flying debris earlier in the morning.

'I already gave you a shot and you aren't getting another for an hour' the sergeant replied. 'Any more painkillers and we'll have to carry your ass back to our lines' he said.

'Do you expect me to hop?' the wounded soldier asked.

'You can crawl instead if you want but you'll have trouble keeping up' the sergeant told him.

Before they had lost their radio, along with the poor bastard carrying it, the squad had at least been able to find out what was going on not only elsewhere in the city but across not only Kelowna but the whole planet. Hostile aliens armed with ray-guns had invaded, just like in those stupid serial adventures shown at the cinema, and the armed forces of Kelowna, Tirania and the Andari Federation were fighting them with help from _other_ aliens.

All the UFO nuts had been right after all and the stupid alien abduction stories in the tabloids were true which made the sergeant wonder if the naquadria bomb was really an original Kelownan invention or was alien technology.

As he led his men through the back streets trying to avoid the enemy the sergeant heard a rumbling. 'Artillery in the distance' one said.

'No' the sergeant said with a groan. 'Just thunder' he told them, looking up as it started to rain. 'Oh hell, at least it'll put out the fires' he observed, parts of the city were burning, especially to the north where the fighting had been particularly heavy.

Soon soaked to the skin the four of them continued to make their way towards where they knew the company headquarters had been the day before yesterday. Most of the civilians had fled to the surrounding countryside once the fighting started but there were enough left in hiding across the city to ensure that the Kelownan army couldn't simply pull out, they had to do their duty and try to protect the people as best they could even if it meant sustaining losses of over ten-to-one for much of the fighting.

Half a mile further on they reached the site of an earlier battle. Thirty or forty corpses in Kelownan uniform were scattered around, several looking like they had been ripped apart by claws but most had clearly been killed by the incredibly powerful balls of green energy the alien weapons fired. Their weapons and equipment lay beside them and the remnants of the squad began sorting through looking for more ammunition and any grenades.

'The machine-gun over here looks okay and there's still a couple of belts for it Sarge' one of the soldiers told him, inspecting the weapon he had found.

'Great, you just volunteered to carry it' the sergeant replied, stuffing stripper-clips for his rifle he found on corpses into his pockets.

'Just be grateful you didn't find a mortar' one of the others said, laughing as the soldier dejectedly slung his rifle onto his back and first hanging the ammunition belts around his neck he picked up the supposedly "Light" machine-gun which was anything but.

The rain started to peter out as they approached the park in the centre of the largely deserted city. Sounds of firing were getting louder and were coming from several directions which meant that there must still be more than one other group of soldiers still in the fight at least which gave them some degree of hope. 'Oh fuck me' the one with the wounded leg exclaimed as they found there was a grey alien spacecraft three stories high landed in the park and they spotted several aliens nearby, presumably defending it.

'Okay so do we go around or ask them to surrender?' the sergeant asked wryly as they ducked behind cover.

The sound of metal clattering on the roadway mixed with the dull roar of a large diesel engine caught their attention, they turned and watched as a tank appeared, rumbling down one of the main roads leading into the city centre, it's turret turning as it trained its main gun on the alien craft.

The tank fired and a shell hurtled through the air to explode against the side of the spaceship. It caused no damage but the tank fired again, this time with an armour-piercing round which bounced off. 'Oh you poor bastards' one of the watching infantry muttered as two of the aliens returned fire with their rifles, the green bolts of energy going right through the front of the tank. After a few seconds the tank started to burn and it exploded as one of the crew tried to bail out.

A second tank appeared, rolling past the wreckage of the first. Instead of firing at the spaceship it opened up with its heavy machine-guns on the aliens and then fired a high-explosive round at a small group of them blowing a pair of the invaders into bloody chunks before they could fire.

'We'll give them the support we can' the Sergeant ordered as a third tank appeared along with what looked like some infantry support following behind. 'If we set up a crossfire from here we might attract away some fire at least ' he said moving to a position where he could fire his rifle from to best effect.

'Well if I use up all the ammo at least I can leave this thing behind' the soldier with the light machine-gun said with a grin, setting it up.

'Didn't want to walk any further anyway' the one with the wounded leg announced, working the bolt of his rifle to chamber a round.

The fourth Kelownan soldier shook his head, they were about to die he thought bitterly. 'I'll feed the belt' he said after a pause, moving to help set up the machine-gun. If you didn't have someone to help guide the links through, the weapon had a tendency to jam.

A door opened up on the alien ship and more of them started to come out to fight the approaching tanks and infantry but as they did so the machine gun opened up spewing hundreds of bullets at them from an unexpected direction.

Caught by surprise the aliens rallied fast and were soon firing back. As the second tank exploded after being hit the soldier who had been feeding the belt into the machine-gun was hit by one of the blasts of green energy which killed him instantly. Ignoring the death of one of his men the sergeant continued firing his rifle, working the bolt as fast as he could. Every five shots he loaded another stripper-clip from his pockets and resumed shooting, years of practice taking over.

It seemed like sheer weight of numbers was going to win the day as more tanks and hundreds of infantry moved up, tracks tearing up the roadway not that anyone cared about that. Just as it looked like the aliens were beaten several much more powerful energy bolts hurtled from the sky and exploded a number of tanks heralding another alien craft tearing overhead as it gave close-air support. It must be one of their fighters the sergeant assumed, the radio had spoken of the Kelownan airforce trying to intercept the things in vain.

The alien fighter banked and was coming around for another pass when it was struck by bright beams of light that seemed to rip through its hull, for a second it lurched sideways and then exploded, showering pieces of metal over the park. 'What the hell?' the sergeant exclaimed as another strange aircraft shot overhead, this one at least having recognisable wings if not the propellers you would expect to see on a Kelownan fighter.

Two more small craft of a third design appeared above the rooftops, hovering in mid air. It soon became evident what side they were on when they started firing volleys of blindingly bright spheres like ball-lightning at the aliens on the ground. They poured on the fire until they ran out of obvious targets and then dropped ropes so that the people who had been inside could abseil down to the ground.

The Kelownan soldiers watched as the black-uniformed and helmeted strangers began deploying, they carried odd weaponry but moved like they were well trained and they were soon engaged in a firefight with the remaining hostiles around the ship. One of the strangers was hit and fell to the ground but the others didn't let up. 'Come on' the sergeant yelled, 'we've got them licked' he declared, starting to run to join in.

The strangers weaponry didn't seem as powerful as the ones carried by the enemy but they were clearly better than Kelownan rifles at least. Firing smaller charges of the "ball-lightning" they kept on shooting firing hundreds of shots and the sergeant wondered if they needed to reload at all before he saw one of them eject what he assumed was an empty magazine, or maybe some sort of battery, and load another before firing again.

'I'm not going in there' one of the strangers declared, pointing with his weapon at the door. 'Get some of those Earther specialists in here' he said, looking up at one of the still hovering craft like he was talking to it. Perhaps he has a radio in his helmet the sergeant wondered as he approached them. 'Who are you?' the stranger who had been talking asked, keeping his weapon ready. He had been told that some of these aliens could take over human minds.

'Sergeant Tomis Crake, Sixteenth Infantry Regiment, Kelownan Army' the sergeant replied, 'who are _you_?' he queried.

'Captain Mallin, B Company, 1st Regiment, 2nd Optrican Air-Mobile Brigade' the stranger replied, raising a hand to flip up the visor on his helmet.

'You're an alien right' the sergeant asked, 'one of the aliens that First Minister Valis said were coming to help us?'

'I'm human just like you but from another planet' Mallin replied. 'Where the fuck are those Earthers?' he exclaimed.

'Earthers?' Crake queried, his three remaining soldiers had come to join him since the fighting seemed to have stopped for now. Other Kelownan soldiers and a tank were approaching more cautiously.

'These guys' the Captain told him as a weird shimmering light effect suddenly started a few metres away and began to coalesce into distinguishable forms. 'Teleporter from their big ship, it's up there somewhere' he added pointing up as four new people in different uniforms from the black-clad "Optricans" appeared from mid-air. 'I thought you all had powered armour?' Mallin asked them, utterly unfazed by their means of arrival.

'Not enough sets to go around, we had too many destroyed or damaged fighting this assholes when we drove them out of our own Solar System' one of the new arrivals replied. 'Still got better armour on than you though' he added, tapping his grey metal breast-plate. 'Captain Jake Gaston' he introduced himself. 'Sectoid Battleship, very nice' he said. 'We'll lead on but we'll need you to follow us in there because we're short-handed' he told the Optrican officer. 'Just watch what we do' he added.

'Done this before?' Mallin asked him.

'Oh yeah, dozens of times' Gaston replied, looking around. 'Another day, another UFO retrieval mission' he said nonchalantly.

'This local's hurt' a woman with him said, indicating the Kelownan soldier with the wounded leg. She reached into a pocket and put an odd looking device onto her hand. 'Hold still' she told the nervous looking soldier as she bent down and to his initial horror some kind of light came out of it and it made an odd sound, after a moment he realised his leg wasn't hurting as much however and then not at all. 'You can take the bandage off I've fixed your leg' she announced, putting the device away again.

'Stop showing off Eitam' Gaston told the Israeli medic, 'they'll probably think that was witchcraft' he added, starting to psych himself up before leading his X-COM team into the ship.

'If your technology can be distinguished from magic it's not advanced enough Sir' Eitam replied with a grin, getting her Heavy Plasma Rifle ready.

Mallin noticed the expression on the Kelownan Sergeant's face. 'Don't look too impressed' he told him. 'They didn't invent most of the really good stuff' he said. 'They just stole it from what I've heard.'

'Spoils of war' Gaston corrected him. 'Okay, let's show these things why you don't fuck with the human race' he said loudly. 'Welcome to the New Galactic Order, take on one of our worlds and you take on them all' he declared, heart starting to pound in his chest as the adrenaline began to flow.

By the time Tagrean and Pangaran soldiers began to arrive through the gate in numbers most of the fighting on Langara was already finished but they still got to see some action, helping to mop up the remains of Loki's armies along with the soldiers from Earth, Optrica and the three nations of Langara and a small contingent from Orban. With _Prometheus_ and the three Asgard vessels taking too high a toll of his fleet Loki was forced to give up the fight and pulled his remaining fighters and other ships out well before the end leaving his ground troops behind to their fate.

It was a quiet revolution of sorts unless you were actually on the scene, most of the galaxy including most of the Goa'uld System Lords were unaware it was even happening when it did, but as the fires were put out on Langara and rebuilding began with the assistance of aid from other worlds a new strategic paradigm was emerging. The "Fifth Race" was coming to maturity and they weren't going to be enslaved, fed upon, abducted, patronised or used in experiments any more, those days were over.

As recorded images of some of the atrocities that had been committed on Langara by the invaders were shown on Tollan broadcast media the Curia found itself at the centre of a seismic political shift. Increasing contact and ongoing trade with humans from other worlds had already begun to chip away at the once deeply entrenched Tollan isolationism and watching cities burn and corpses lying in the streets was appalling in a way that abstract knowledge of the goa'uld enslaving primitives was not. Langara was centuries less advanced than Tollana but they weren't really all that different as people, they had hopes and dreams and they lay at the mercy of hostile forces without batteries of mighty Ion Cannon to protect them.

Two days later, after an electronic referendum was held, Tollana formally declared war on Loki and requested the designs for faster hyperdrive engines from the Asgard whilst doubling their military budget in order to expand the Tollan fleet.

Loki finally realised the enormity of the mess he had created for himself when a Tollan "Ghostrider" warship arrived over an uninhabitable world between Earth and Langara where he was mining trinium. It effortlessly shot several of his ships and orbiting factories to pieces with its Heavy Ion Cannon and then blew a crater the size of Australia in the planet with a UFT warhead fitted to a phasing missile, his mine having been where the epicentre of the explosion was. The final campaign of the Sectoid War was beginning, the humans were on the offensive and they weren't screwing around.

*** * ***

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – July 2003**

Jonas was staring blankly into space, eyes unfocused. The verified count of casualty figures for his homeworld was even worse than he had been expecting and the fact it had taken several weeks to put together had already braced him for something horrific.

General Hammond blinked. 'And this is considered accurate?' he asked Dreylock the Kelownan Ambassador who had arrived less than an hour ago along with representatives from Tirania and the Andari Federation. They were due to meet representatives of the IOA later to request increased military and humanitarian aid but presently they were updating the SGC on the situation, General Hammond joined by Colonel O'Neill and Jonas sitting in on the meeting since it was his homeworld they were discussing.

'Tirania is still pulling bodies out of the rubble in two of their major cities and my own nation Kelowna is still trying to finish eradicating a chryssalid infestation in the western provinces that is increasing the toll daily' Dreylock responded, 'but the count is at least thirteen million dead and wounded at present' she told him.

'The Andari Federation took the smallest losses but the destruction of several dams has destroyed hundreds of square kilometres of our best farmland' Lucia Tarthus the Andari representative told them. 'We are hoping that Tirania will provide some of their harvest to see us through to next year' she said, giving Vin Eremal the Tiranian ambassador a look.

'As we have told you, we are willing to sell you food at a reasonable price' Eremal replied.

'You have a surplus and yet you would let my people starve?' Tarthus responded angrily. 'We cannot afford the price you ask for' she said.

'We expect a surplus only because we have less mouths to feed, our cities are laid to waste and we have millions homeless' Eremal retorted.

Jonas snapped out of it and slammed his fist down on the briefing table. 'Stop playing politics, our people are hungry and need shelter, they need help not rhetoric and old grudges' he told them.

'_Our_ people Kelownan?' Eremal retorted.

'Yes, _our_ people' Jonas told him. 'Do you think that Loki cared where we draw our borders on the map?' he asked, rolling his eyes. 'Tirania has food and the Andari Federation has more of its infrastructure intact, you feed them and they'll help put a roof over your heads, it's easy as long as you aren't arguing about things that happened hundreds of years ago' he declared.

'The Andari are not likely to forget the last people that invaded and occupied us' Tarthus said flatly.

'The only thing you suffered under Tiranian rule was peace and good government' Eremal responded.

Tarthus glared at him. 'And mass arrests, summary executions…'

'In response to terrorist acts against innocent civilians' Eremal interrupted her.

'Enough!' Jonas bellowed. 'The enemies we need to fear aren't the other side of a river or a mountain range, they're on other _worlds_' he said. 'If we don't think of ourselves as Langarans first and Kelownans, Tiranians and Andari second then the next time some alien race decides to conquer us we might not be mourning millions of dead it could be _hundreds_ of millions' he declared.

O'Neill raised his eyebrows and looked at Hammond who looked equally surprised at Jonas's passion and intensity, normally he was all smiles and laid-back attitude.

Ambassador Dreylock found herself nodding agreement. 'We've already seen how far behind we are technologically' she said. 'If the goa'uld had come to our world instead where would we have been?' she asked rhetorically.

'They'd have destroyed all our cities from orbit as soon as they arrived' Jonas said. 'Even if our allies had been willing to fight them, by the time they arrived it would have been too late' he noted. 'We need to rebuild, we need to cooperate and we need to catch up _fast_' he told the three ambassadors. 'We can do it too' he said confidently, 'we're smarter than these people' he added, indicating Hammond and O'Neill. 'No offence Sirs' he added awkwardly to the two Earthers.

'None taken son' Hammond replied, it was true anyway he knew. A few random genetic mutations generations before had resulted in the humans of Langara being notably brighter on average than people on other worlds. They were a race of hok'tar or "advanced humans" in the goa'uld parlance which was precisely why Loki was so interested in experimenting on them. This did in fact have an interesting side-effect when they were invaded since psionic attacks by Ethereals were nowhere near as effective as they had been against Earth military units, the Langarans were made of sterner mental stuff.

Dreylock looked directly at Hammond. 'Perhaps now we will have less trouble obtaining advanced military technology from our offworld allies?' she said.

'Now you know we only restricted your access to modern weaponry because we weren't sure if you'd use them on each other' O'Neill pointed out.

'Something you always complained about the Tollan doing to you' Jonas muttered.

O'Neill frowned, Jonas wasn't usually like this. 'I think we'll probably be more forthcoming on the hardware now' he reasoned. It wasn't exactly likely that the nations of Langara would be fighting themselves for the foreseeable future, they had been given a nasty insight into the threats that lay waiting for them in the galaxy and border disputes and historical grievances probably looked pretty trivial now.

'They've got designs for fusion reactors they picked up on Euronda not so long ago, if we had those it would enable us to rebuild faster and help accelerate our development, they only need Heavy Water we can get from our oceans to power them' Jonas told Dreylock. Unlimited and relatively cheap electricity would go a long way towards dragging Langara several decades ahead technologically in short order he knew. 'The Aschen are usually looking for an opportunity to improve their image, see if they'll provide agricultural tech and advanced crops' he advised.

Dreylock nodded. 'Orban has offered naquadah reactors as a stop-gap measure to replace all our lost power-plants but we wouldn't want to end up completely reliant on imports for our energy needs and we know our naquadria isn't stable enough to replace it' she said.

'What we could really do with is a few of those fighters the Earthers use' Eremal opined.

'They're still replacing the ones they lost driving Loki off the fourth planet of this system' Jonas told him.

'Jonas when did "they" replace "we" when you're talking about us?' O'Neill asked, indicating General Hammond and himself.

'This isn't my homeworld Colonel' Jonas told him, 'if it's the human race versus Loki or the goa'uld then it's still "us" but right now I'm with them' he said, indicating the other Langarans.

'We're not saying we disapprove of your patriotism son' Hammond told Jonas. 'It's just that maybe we forgot where your loyalties lie' he admitted.

O'Neill looked thoughtful. 'Yeah I've done that with Teal'c before too' he admitted. The Jaffa was perfectly open about the truth that he regarded the Tau'ri as friends but that his cause was freedom for the Jaffa first and foremost.

Jonas looked away for a moment. 'We don't have much to offer the more advanced societies right now in terms of technology, or resources other than naquadria, but I know what we do have and how we can contribute in a way nobody else can' he said.

Dreylock looked intrigued. 'What are you thinking Mr Quinn?' she asked.

'Psionics' Jonas told her. 'The X-COM organisation already recruits from every nation on Earth but what if there were people from our nations too?' he asked rhetorically. 'If you tested every member of our own armies we'd be bound to find plenty of soldiers with psionic strength and skill much higher than anyone on Earth has' he said.

'Your people in X-COM units?' Hammond queried.

'Why not?' Jonas asked rhetorically. 'We could make a big difference in the fight against Loki and the System Lords' he said. 'A psychic soldier in every squad, think about it' he told O'Neill.

'First Minister Valis did comment that he worried that the public might be unsettled by the thought that we were nothing but recipients of foreign aid who needed other worlds to rescue us' Dreylock recalled. 'He was concerned it would lead to resentment and a culture that didn't respect itself' she said.

'Our soldiers taking the fight to the enemy alongside our allies changes that perception' Tarthus observed.

'We need to think of ourselves as something other than victims dependent on the charity of others' Eremal agreed. 'I doubt we would have any difficulty finding volunteers to fight on other worlds' he decided, 'I cannot speak for the Kelownans or Andari but what remains of the Tiranian military is out for blood' he said.

O'Neill turned to Hammond. 'I like the proactive mindset but I don't know what the IOA or the Joint Chiefs will think about it' he said.

'Politics' Jonas said with derision.

Lucia Tarthus leaned forward in her chair. 'My government is interested in your intelligence regarding the whereabouts of Loki' she told Hammond.

'As for Loki himself we don't know for sure but we're gradually getting more and more intel out of the copy of his consciousness we captured at the Cydonia Base' Hammond replied. 'The location of the trinium mine and orbital metalworks the Tollan recently destroyed was just the start' he said. 'We believe that Loki has been operating out of a star cluster between Earth and Langara and that his manufacturing facilities are there as well as most of his resource base' he said.

'None of the stars has habitable planets or a stargate' Jonas said, 'it's away from goa'uld controlled territory and fairly isolated' he told them. 'The trinium mine the Tollan destroyed is at the edge of the cluster, it's not known how many more installations Loki has in there and the Tollan are wary of just heading straight in because Loki does have access to Asgard technology and enough of his ships would be a threat to any vessel in space.'

'We've also asked that they don't just blow everything he has in there all to hell because we're hoping that his elerium is made in there somewhere' O'Neill added. 'The damn computer on Mars didn't know how he made it, the little grey bastard erased that part of its memory' he said in annoyance.

Jonas sighed. 'Elerium gives us an edge over the goa'uld in energy weapons and small-craft propulsion' he said. 'If we can learn how Loki makes it economically from regular naquadah we'll be in a much better position when we have to take on the System Lords' he explained. 'Like the trinium he used to make fighters on Mars all the elerium was shipped in to Cydonia on transports' Jonas continued. 'One of them was captured there' he noted.

'It's being back-engineered along with the Type 2 and Type 3's we took intact' Hammond told the Langarans. 'Loki still has better fighters than we do, the only reason our F-302's trounced his birds in your airspace like they did is because they can't use their shields in the atmosphere' he said. 'In space we don't think our fighters would do anywhere near as well.'

'We think his Type 3's would kick our butt' O'Neill admitted. 'We already know from looking at them that Loki has fitted them with better engines, shields and weapons' he said. 'He's always coming up with something new.'

'Then perhaps we should try and wipe him out before we encounter a future "Type 4" fighter then?' Dreylock suggested.

O'Neill grimaced. 'The way he keeps coming up with new hardware I don't know about the Type 4 but the Type 5 could probably give a goa'uld mothership a spanking all on its lonesome' he said. 'At least his pilots aren't so good though' he added with relief.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_In episode 7:02 Homecoming it was the flagship of Anubis that appeared over the Kelownan capital city, here it's an Asgard O'Neill Class ship on a rather different mission. __We saw an Asgard ship tow Prometheus through hyperspace in episode 6:12 Unnatural Selection. It slowed the ship down a fair deal but it could still travel intergalatic distances in hours. Having a ship detour to Earth to collect the X-303 and some other hardware makes sense, Loki's craft and technology is specifically designed to be hard for Asgard sensors to track, more primitive Earth technology does it much better. __We also saw a Bedrosian shuttle pod in episode 3:19 New Ground. The Optricans were at least as advanced as their rival nation so they should have similar craft, add more weaponry and you've got gunships for Air-Cavalry. __Commander Hale was the Kelownan officer that tried to make a deal with Anubis. Brigade-Leader Husn is my own character, we never actually met any Optricans in the show._

_Tollana is a democracy and hence public opinion matters. Although isolationist seeing the pictures coming from Langara is going to shake up their values and I imagined it as being much like the USA in World War One, isolationism becoming a clamour for war later on. __Oh, Kelowna is a city in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, so is Penticton... if Stargate can borrow Canadian place-names so can I. ;-)_

_Ambassador Dreylock of Kelowna was first seen in episode 6:07 Shadow Play. Vin Eremal of Tirania and Lucia Tarthus of the Andari Federation were seen in episode 7:14 Fallout. __In the game X-COM: Interceptor set in the 2060's humanity was fighting the aliens from the first game in a star cluster some distance from Earth. Each side had mining and production facilities to provide their logistics and war material. The bases themselves were basically space-stations in interstellar space between the various star-systems being fought over, you staged FTL capable fighter squadrons out of them to attack the other sides bases and economic infrastructure. __The aliens did eventually develop better pilots than the sectoids and ethereals eventually as the game progressed... better fighters than we've seen so far too!_


	49. Chapter 49

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Slave Labour Camp – Erebus – July 2003**

With a force-field preventing unauthorised access to the planet through the chappa'ai Erebus was considered secure enough to warrant a limited garrison relative to its strategic importance. Although inhospitable to the degree that only Jaffa could stand to live there for more than a few days, the volcanism of the geology provided ample energy for the production of large quantities of naquadah. The ore was processed in great blast-furnaces with the refined product feeding the needs of the planets zero-gravity dry-dock which was currently producing Ha'tak at record pace to replace those lost by Baal in the recent war with Apophis.

The furnaces, forges and workshops of Erebus were worked by Jaffa who had refused to switch allegiance after being taken as prisoners-of-war. As a result most of them currently bore the mark of either Apophis or Anubis but a few were remnants of earlier wars. There was even a few Jaffa who had once served Ra and who now both stubbornly refused to die or accept that their god had been killed by the Tau'ri years before, the other workers humoured them although the guards just mocked. A small group of Free Jaffa had recently joined the ranks of the unwilling workforce after losing a skirmish with far superior numbers of Baal's troops on the world Kadesh, but it was rare for shol'va of this kind to end up on Erebus. It was claimed by Baal that this was because generally they were executed immediately on capture to make an example of them but in truth it was of course because in the vast majority of firefights the Free Jaffa were the victors.

Baal had taken Erebus from Apophis over a year and a half before, since then it had helped him maintain an armada that most of the other remaining System Lords could only dream of in an era where Ha'tak motherships were expended like mere Al'kesh. Much of Baal's fleet had been gutted at the battle over Delmak but he was rebuilding his ability to conquer and project power again rapidly, far more rapidly than Lord Yu who was likely his greatest rival at present now that Anubis had seemingly gone to ground.

It was, Baal considered, a great pity that Erebus could still as yet only produce older style vessels with limited modern upgrades. On the other hand despite being far inferior in speed and firepower to the new ships being constructed in the core worlds of his domain even basic designs that predated the improvements made by Sokar and Anubis were naturally better than no extra Ha'tak at all. Nerus planned to re-tool the shipyard and factories on Erebus for his master as his next major project but for the moment he was still trying to further improve upon the hyperdrive design he had back-engineered from the ships used by Apophis. By using some of the Ancient technology Anubis had managed to obtain in new ways Nerus hoped to tune the hyperdrive to an even higher output without burning it out completely after only limited use. Baal himself wasn't entirely convinced the podgy goa'uld scientist could manage it but since Apophis had clearly proven the massive strategic advantage that faster ships represented he was willing to indulge Nerus in his current hobby for now, just in case it actually worked.

Even older Ha'tak were invaluable and the one floating in the sky above Erebus was nearly completed. Unfortunately for Baal it was worth even more to another group than it was to him and with their temporary alliance of convenience against Apophis now forgotten the Tok'ra had decided to take a leaf out of the Tau'ri book and steal the thing.

The Tok'ra had never really favoured direct confrontation, they simply didn't have the manpower, but shifting allegiances and alliances had fundamentally changed the politics of the galaxy and this was about to be proven dramatically on Erebus. Copying the tactic they had once used to attack deep into the realm of Apophis, disrupting his supply lines and causing him to redeploy his armies, several cloaked Tel'taks had landed away from the gate and unloaded troops. However this time it was not the Tau'ri of X-COM that the Tok'ra were transporting, it was instead a force of Free Jaffa under the command of Rak'nor and they were here to not only free their brothers they were also there on a mission to add a Ha'tak to the collection of smaller vessels which had already fallen into their hands.

Rak'nor was still wary of the Tok'ra, they were too much alike the goa'uld not to be so, but he could not doubt how useful they were becoming as allies against the false gods. Ideally he would have preferred another than the often confrontational Malek tagging along as the leader of the Tok'ra contingent too but at least he had some evident skill at combat which they were likely to face much of.

For thousands of years the goa'uld had deliberately kept the Jaffa as ignorant as possible of their technology, they could pilot deathgliders, fire a staff-weapon and even crew a Ha'tak but they had very little idea how it all actually worked. An alliance with the Tok'ra plugged the gap in that knowledge and under the guidance of their returned queen, the famous or perhaps infamous Egeria, they were willing to teach the Jaffa the ways of goa'uld "magic". In the shorter term they could operate, maintain and repair equipment that the Free Jaffa were largely clueless about such as hyperdrives and long-range communication devices. Already Tok'ra scientists and engineers had been upgrading Free Jaffa Tel'tak vessels with their cloaking system, and more importantly to this battle they had adapted, developed and produced new weapons that complemented the already proven Staff-Rifle.

It had taken a while to cure the Free Jaffa of their predilection for close-combat but once they started fighting in a manner more akin to the Tau'ri they accepted, albeit grudgingly at first, that shooting at your enemy at a range where they were likely to enjoy limited success firing back with clumsy unmodified Staff-weapons did work quite well as a tactic. As Rak'nor launched his attack on the camp guards and the rest of the garrison he felt the usual twinge of guilt resulting from killing fellow Jaffa but he knew it was necessary. The power-base of the false gods remained their Jaffa armies, and freedom for all of his brothers and sisters in the future meant that some who had yet to see the truth had to die in order to bring down the goa'uld.

It was with heavy hearts but a steady aim that Rak'nor and his warriors shot down the loyalists, giving no quarter after their initial offer to accept their surrender was rebuffed. Sometimes the enemy Jaffa did agree to lay down their arms in these situations but usually their sense of honour or their faith in their master prevailed and they fought to the death. The work camp which processed the naquadah ore was situated at the bottom of a steep-sided open-cast mine a few miles from the chappa'ai and firing down into the midst of the loyalists was a simple affair, especially given that Rak'nor had also bought along a few heavy weapons with a longer range and greater power than the standard-issue Staff-Rifle.

A modified version of the armament carried by deathgliders, the Free Jaffa had recently begun to employ shoulder-fired Light Staff-Cannon in battle. A heavy load for the warrior that was chosen to carry it for his squad they nonetheless provided much welcomed additional firepower. For full-scale pitched battles when even more force was required Heavy Staff-Cannon mounted on wheeled gun-carriages and drawn by horses provided it, acting as field artillery. The carriages themselves were provided by the Tau'ri and had sprung suspension, rubber tyres and a metal gunshield made of plasma resistant cydonium armour. Like the Staff-Rifle they were relatively simple innovations that utilised existing weaponry in more effective ways, but they still gave the Free Jaffa much greater battlefield effectiveness than their Loyalist Jaffa foe, an effectiveness that would soon be bolstered by a hand-cranked version of the feared Tau'ri Staff-Gatling that used the same basic carriage as the Heavy Cannon.

The Tok'ra Malek observed dispassionately as the friendly Jaffa killed the unfriendly ones. Rak'nor and his ilk were allies these days but he had spent too many years fighting and fleeing the genetically engineered slave-armies of the goa'uld not to still feel on edge in the presence of them. It was true that many Jaffa now carried within them the next generation of Tok'ra, indeed a handful of those fighting that day on Erebus already had the spawn of Egeria not some goa'uld queen as symbiotes, but it would be a few more years at least before being near Jaffa didn't cause him to occasionally check to make sure his zat'nik'tel and plasma pistol were holstered comfortingly on his belt.

Bra'tac had been the first to swap his goa'uld symbiote for a Tok'ra one, the former being ritually killed afterwards and then symbolically thrown into a refuse heap. As the symbiote matured he had started to be able to contact it mentally during deep kelno'reem, as the priestess Shan'auc had proven possible previously with her own symbiote the goa'uld Tanith. As yet however it seemed the Tok'ra larvae was yet too young to truly communicate, even with mental images or flashes of memory. According to Bra'tac all the response he had yet to elicit was the prim'ta becoming far more active for a short while, a feeling he described to the great amusement of Egeria as being akin to having eaten too much spicy food the night before and be now paying the price.

Being nearly complete the Ha'tak in the shipyard above already possessed a partial crew and using transport rings they began to arrive to reinforce the garrison and fight the despised Free Jaffa traitors. It had been hoped by Rak'nor they would do this because clearing them out of the myriad winding corridors and chambers of the ship later would have been a far more dangerous task than merely shooting them up in the open as they now got to do instead. Tok'ra intelligence had learned that the weaponry on the ship was still not operational, and could therefore not be used to bombard them from above in support of the guards, but the hyperdrive was finished so if they could take the prize they could get away with it too.

The Jaffa prisoners had been treated with extreme harshness and once the guards who had been beating and summarily executing them on a whim for months or sometimes years on end started to fall they soon rose in a mini-rebellion of their own adding more chaos to the situation. As Rak'nor mopped up and tried to avoid accidentally killing any of the slave-workers Malek, a few other Tok'ra and a third of the Free Jaffa moved onto the next part of the mission, the capture of the Ha'tak.

Getting aboard proved even easier than Malek had hoped and he made a mental note to make sure that the mixed Free Jaffa and Tok'ra crew that would end up running this vessel were going to have much better security. Fighting through the remaining Jaffa on the Ha'tak was made simple by the prodigious use of Shock Grenades plus plenty of zat'nik'tel and plasma-pistol fire, and they had both the Pel'tak and engine room secured long before the fighting had ended below.

Not all of the liberated prisoners were willing to join the Free Jaffa but most were and Rak'nor gave the rest the option to leave through the chappa'ai using the forcefield deactivation device they took from the corpse of the chief guard. The Tok'ra soon got the ship running and after the Tel'taks which had transported them to Erebus were docked and everyone ringed aboard the mothership powered up its engines and broke free of the zero-gravity dry-dock, heading for space at a sedate speed intended not to tax the untested sub-light drive.

When the Ha'tak eventually arrived above the new Tok'ra homeworld after a long and uneventful journey there were already engineering crews waiting eagerly for its arrival. They would prioritise getting the existing weaponry on-line but then they had a long list of upgrades to make including the Anubis upgrades to the shields and capital staff-cannon.

The Tok'ra/Free Jaffa Alliance celebrated their success and looked forward to more to come in future. Baal meanwhile raged then looked for a scapegoat for the loss of a valuable ship, failing to find one he eventually chalked it up to experience and made sure to reinforce his garrisons on other important worlds.

The other System Lords derided Baal for him losing a Ha'tak to Jaffa rabble and a pitiful band of Tok'ra traitors, they weren't laughing as hard when the Alliance started messing with them too however.

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2003**

'Any luck persuading Jonas to change his mind?' Hammond asked O'Neill as they headed at a brisk pace towards the gate room.

'He wants to go home and help re-build, can't fault him for that, he's been thinking about it ever since we got back from the fighting on Langara' O'Neill replied. 'I think it was when we were helping out the people on P3X-289 that he made the decision' he continued, 'it's one thing fighting the goa'uld or the Sectoids but missions like that where we're just helping people or exploring made him think he could be helping his own people instead' he said.

'I'm surprised that he stayed with the SGC after we evacuated the people there then' Hammond replied.

O'Neill shrugged. 'I talked him into doing one more mission but it doesn't look like we're going to gain much from the crashed ship we found on P2A-347 or the people that were aboard' he said. 'Most of their technology is inferior to what we've already got in the inventory' he noted. 'Talthus didn't even have hyperdrive which is why they had to freeze the passengers and crew in order to get to where they were going.'

Hammond sighed. 'If he wasn't inside Dr Jackson I would have punched their Sovereign's lights out when I explained our plan' he admitted. 'Arrogant son-of-a-bitch' he opined.

'Martice thought it was dangerous' O'Neill replied, 'I still say we should have flushed him and all the other minds that got pasted into Daniel's brain into that computer core and then pulled the plug' he said. 'I couldn't believe the way he talked to Heimdall, she was only trying to help the ungrateful bastard' he growled.

General Hammond chuckled. 'Be fair Colonel, it did sound far-fetched' he pointed out. 'Take genetic samples from the remains of each of the dead passengers and crew, clone new bodies and transfer the minds out of Dr Jackson and Pharrin into the clones.'

'Tryan had balls at least, volunteering to go first to show the others it was going to work' O'Neill responded. The consciousness of the engineer had been transferred to the clone by Heimdall using much the same equipment which had been used to move Egeria into her new body although the Asgard scientist did have to consult with Harlan on Altair to find own how the consciousness-filtering system he used to separate the mind of Teal'c from his goa'uld symbiote had worked.

'It was surprising how quickly the Asgard could grow a copy of a human being to adulthood' Hammond remarked.

'I thought it was a nice touch that she made them all a few years younger than they had been originally' O'Neill replied. 'Except for the kid Keenin anyway.'

'The Sovereign did seem happy with being in his early twenties again, that might have helped seal the deal' Hammond reasoned.

O'Neill stopped in the corridor and looked around, Hammond stopping beside him wondering what the Colonel was doing. 'You know if it's that easy it makes you wonder if we couldn't get the same treatment' O'Neill whispered to the General.

'Have our minds transferred into younger copies of ourselves?' Hammond replied, raising his eyebrows. 'That might be difficult to explain to my children and grandchildren' he said.

'Yeah, but I wouldn't mind another crack at the Air-Force Academy' O'Neill replied. 'Something to think about in a few years anyway' he said then grinned. 'If I wanted to do it all again I could be the only kid in High-School getting a USAF Pension' he joked as they set off again.

They arrived in the gate room just as their visitor was scheduled to arrive. Carter was already there talking to Daniel about Jonas, who was currently off-duty and had been dragged against his will to a bar in town by Andianov who believed that getting drunk was the solution to all manner of personal issues.

'Right on time' O'Neill observed, checking his watch as the stargate came to life receiving an incoming wormhole, the iris closing shut. 'Well I shouldn't be surprised they've got accurate clocks' he added as a valid IDC signal was confirmed and Hammond ordered the iris opened again. 'They can just walk through the damn thing anyway' the Colonel reminded everyone.

'Yes but it's more polite to invite them in this way' Hammond replied as a man wearing Tollan military uniform stepped out from the event horizon of the stargate and gave a slight bow of greeting. 'Tesserarius Travoc' the General greeted him. 'Nice to have you back on Earth' he told the Tollan.

The Tollan walked down the ramp. 'I spent most of my last visit orbiting Earth rather than being on it but thank you General' he replied. Travoc had been previously sent by his government to inspect the Anubis type Ha'tak now named _Admiral Kuznetsov_ by its new owners and had spent some time examining its upgraded shields and weaponry.

'Do you think he'd mind us shortening his name to Tess?' O'Neill whispered to Daniel, it sounded girly but would be much easier to say.

'Tesserarius is his rank not his name' Daniel whispered back, 'it means "Guard Commander", it was a Roman military rank, probably another linguistic holdover' he reasoned.

'Centurion would be way cooler' O'Neill opined quietly. 'And how come all your memories about ancient cultures have come back but you still can't remember owing me fifty bucks from before you got ascended?' he asked suspiciously.

'Selective amnesia, the human mind is complicated' Daniel replied unconvincingly. It was the way he wasn't meeting Jack's eyes that failed to sell it.

'Interesting new insignia' Carter spotted, indicating a patch on the Tollan's uniform.

Travoc nodded. 'My people are fascinated by flying animals and when we found out that our likely ancestors used one as their symbol we decided to adopt it in the Defence Forces' he said. 'Your Ambassador Faxon had something of a role to play there' he told her.

'Roman Eagle' Daniel noted, looking at it. 'And the symbols below?' he queried, not being able to read Tollan script.

'An abbreviation, it stands for "Curia and the People of Tollana" in our language' Travoc explained. 'General, if I can present my briefing now, I'm supposed to be at your Area 51 facility giving a lecture on the power requirements of the Heavy Ion Cannon within the hour' he told Hammond.

'If you'd care to follow me Tesserarius' Hammond responded, leading off towards the conference room.

As soon as they sat down Travoc took a small device from a pocket on his uniform and laid it on the table. It immediately projected a holographic image of the galaxy which then zoomed in on an area covering a few thousand light-years. Arrows pointed to the locations of Earth and Langara with legends in English and Tollan. 'After we located and destroyed the first of Loki's mining facilities here not too far from Langara' Travoc began, another arrow appearing on the hologram, 'we began an expanding search pattern looking for his other installations but it soon became apparent that it was isolated' he said.

'That makes sense' Carter responded, 'Trinium is only found in amounts economically viable to mine in a small minority of systems' she said.

'Yes, my people chose Tollana from a number of possible new homeworlds we had explored because it had a relative abundance of trinium' Travoc noted, 'we think that as Loki's need for trinium for fighter-hulls increased he had to open new mines and they could be widely scattered' he said. 'The complex we destroyed appeared to have been built fairly recently, possibly to support his campaign against Langara' he said.

'So the trail's cold and we can't find out where the little bastard is hiding out?' O'Neill asked in annoyance.

'There are hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, even if we just restrict the search to a small portion it'll take forever to investigate them' Carter told him. 'Loki deliberately designed his technology to be difficult for Asgard or Goa'uld sensors to detect' she pointed out.

'Yes, but not _Tollan_ sensors' Travoc said with a degree of smugness. 'It took us a while to narrow down the area we needed to look at though' he admitted.

O'Neill's eyes widened. 'Don't tell me you've found the son-of-a-bitch?' he asked.

'Not yet but we know where to look' Travoc replied. 'I don't know if you know this but the passage of a ship through sub-space causes detectable ripples in the normal space along its course' he said.

'Yes, as part of the Seeker Project we placed sensors on satellites around P5C-629 to give early warning of a goa'uld attack on Earth' Carter replied, 'it's on a direct line between us and the bulk of Goa'uld controlled space' she said. 'That wouldn't work for the tiny ships Loki uses though' she said, 'not enough hyperspace wake' she told him.

'Not enough for _your_ sensors to detect perhaps' Travoc responded.

'Way smarter than us' Daniel observed.

The Tollan smiled. 'We deployed hundreds of small automated sensor drones and waited to see if we could detect any of Loki's ships' he said, 'once we did we started back-tracking their course deploying more drones as we went to try and narrow down the search pattern' Travoc continued. 'Eventually we determined that Loki was operating out of a star cluster between Earth and Langara and we are currently scouting the cluster with phase-cloaked reconnaissance probes' he announced.

'Why not go in guns-blazing?' O'Neill asked.

'Because we all want to capture Loki alive either to stand trial or reveal the secret of how he manufactures Elerium' Travoc explained. 'Our initial findings from probe telemetry indicates that none of the planets in the cluster is either inhabitable or has a stargate' he said. 'We have already detected several naquadah-rich systems which are being mined, one system which has trinium and others which have gas-giants or large asteroid belts to supply additional raw materials.'

'What about military assets?' Hammond asked. 'Manufacturing?' he queried.

'So far we have found three large space-station bases, all in inter-stellar space between systems' Travoc replied. 'They seem to be where Loki is producing ships judging from the fact we have observed far more fighter-craft craft leaving them than docking with them after patrols and there is a steady flow of transport ships from the mines to the space-stations' he said.

'Naquadah, trinium and the rest goes in, elerium fuel and fighters go out' O'Neill said. 'Sweet target' he declared.

'And one we need to take intact like we did the Cydonia Base' Hammond said.

'Boarding action' O'Neill said with obvious enthusiasm before putting on a Cuban accent. 'In this galaxy, first you get the elerium, then you get the power, then you get the women' he declared. 'Heavy Plasma Rifles all round' he said, 'Say hello to my little friend, goa'uld hijo de puta.'

'Movie night last night, we watched Scarface because Daniel had either never seen it or couldn't remember seeing it' Carter explained to Hammond who nodded his understanding.

Travoc looked from one of them to the other. this was one of those occasions when he was very happy his ancestors had left this planet. 'We think that by adapting the mind-shield technology we know you're working on we can get one of our phase-cloaked cruisers right next to the base without being detected by enemy telepaths, but frankly Tollan guardsmen aren't up to the job of taking the stations by force ourselves' he admitted. 'This would have to be a joint operation, ideally with the Asgard attacking the mining facilities to draw off enemy forces' he said. 'We've been intercepting enemy sub-space communications and hope to determine on which of the three bases Loki himself is aboard if any, if we can verify his location we can concentrate on taking that one only rather than divide our forces.'

'With Loki in our hands and an elerium plant we can just destroy the other two bases' Hammond agreed.

'The Curia will of course insist that Earth provides all data pertaining to elerium production to Tollana also, rather than simply keeping a monopoly' Travoc told them. 'The High Chancellor told me personally to make sure you all understood that' he said flatly.

'That's a political decision beyond my pay-grade son but I'll offer my assurance I'll personally recommend that to my superiors' Hammond replied.

'I'm just happy to see the Tollan off their asses and doing something for once' O'Neill said. 'No offence meant' he told Travoc as the General gave him a disapproving glare.

'None taken' Travoc replied, he knew they were primitive barbarians and couldn't help it after all.

* * *

**High Orbit – Hebridan – August 2003**

John Sheppard had thought they were yanking his chain when they told him about this mission but once Major Davis managed to convince him it was an actual, sanctioned operation Sheppard practically had to stop himself from bounding around the room in glee. They were actually _paying_ him to do something he would have happily forgone his pension for and he knew that just about every other pilot assigned to X-COM would be jealous, especially Mitchell who usually got these kind of choice assignments.

Despite several attempts to open up diplomatic relations with the Hebridan it had proven extremely difficult to do so. Hebridan had keep itself largely isolated from the rest of the galaxy not wishing to draw too much attention from the System Lords and besides which they didn't seem to believe that Earth being hundreds of years less advanced had anything much to offer them in terms of an alliance. As a free-market capitalist democracy with an economy dominated by a few mega-corporations it was however believed that Hebridan could be opened up via trade. They just needed to prove Earth _did_ have something worth buying and ideally make enough of a media splash that the new up-and-coming market opportunity called Earth was worth embracing.

Apparently the corporate sponsor, Tech Con Group, had also thought it was a joke when a delegation from Earth arrived and asked to enter a ship in the so-called "Loop of Kon Garat", an annual race where new aerospace technologies and craft were demonstrated in competition with each other. The winner of the race would receive a contract with the Deep Space Exploration Division of Tech Con as a valuable prize, plus victory ensured that the entrant's proven new technologies would attract considerable interest from investors. The fierce competition had driven technological progress to greater and greater heights over the years to the point where Hebridan engine designs not only far eclipsed anything used by the Goa'uld even the Tollan had been surprised by their sophistication and performance.

The Tollan themselves had managed to trade for the latest Hebridan sub-light engine designs, trading one of their stargates, which was delivered by Ghostrider, and some advanced pharmaceuticals for the plans. After that however the trade between them had largely dried up since other than in a few areas of aerospace technology Hebridan was generally less advanced than Tollana and the Tollan still wouldn't sell most of their own superior technologies to other worlds.

Local media broadcasts had been making cracks about Sheppard's ship ever since he arrived in the system and landed at the hanger assigned to him. A ground-crew who had arrived through the stargate had met him there and went through last-minute checks and maintenance procedures whilst all the while locals seemed to be laughing at the Avenger's apparently archaic looking design. It wasn't the looks that counted though, Sheppard knew, it was what the ship had under the hood which counted and this wasn't a regular Avenger transport, this was fully customised with bleeding-edge technology and he was damned if he was going to lose.

Making orbit around the planet Sheppard had deliberately been slow and sloppy as he pulled up alongside the other entrants in the race. He turned to his nervous-looking co-pilot and engineer and grinned. 'Cheer up' he said, 'this is going to be fun' he told him.

Rodney McKay grimaced. 'Half these systems aren't properly tested yet, especially not on an Avenger' he complained. 'We could theoretically blow up the moment you push the engines to maximum and the extra naquadah reactors back there aren't just running on weapons-grade' he said, 'they're running hot too' he pointed out.

'Just as long as they don't burn out before we win the race' Sheppard replied. He hadn't dealt with McKay much before, he had heard of him of course, the scientist was well-known in X-COM circles as one of the best-and-brightest if also one of the most arrogant and occasionally whiniest.

'They're good for a few hours at that level' McKay replied, he knew that some preliminary joint-research with the Orbanians was being done into a Mark II Naquadah Reactor which could be run just under the critical overload point producing vast amount of power for a short while but that seemed like a sure-fire recipe for accidental meltdown or nuclear detonation to him.

'Everything working okay?' Sheppard asked.

McKay checked the displays in front of him, several were just jury-rigged for this mission. 'Reactors in the Green, Engines...' he began, then paused 'also green' he said. 'Shields green, avionics green, weapon systems' he paused again, 'they're in the green' he announced.

'Is anything _not_ working?' Sheppard interrupted.

Rodney ignored him. 'Vector Control Thrusters green, Artificial Gravity green' he continued unabated, 'Navigation green, Inertial Dampening green...'

'You like the checklist don't you?' Sheppard interrupted again.

'Be quiet and let me finish' McKay hissed. 'Primary and backup Life Support Systems green, main and reserve elerium tanks full' he said. 'Auxiliary power-distribution green' he finished.

'So everything is working?' Sheppard asked.

'Weren't you listening?' McKay responded in annoyance.

'I sort of zoned out after a while' Sheppard told him, flipping down the eye-piece of his helmet. The combination of the goa'uld head-up display and the sectoid navigation and control system built into his helmet heading his thoughts gave excellent spatial awareness and drastically speeded up response times. 'Why did you volunteer for this?' he asked. 'You don't seem like you're enjoying the mission or even looking forward to the race' he said.

'I'm competitive' McKay replied, 'and besides which I don't trust anyone else to understand all the systems' he added. 'You nearly got Felger, be grateful you got me instead' he told the pilot. 'Felger's a klutz, we're all safer if he's stuck in his office playing with stargate computer code rather than being somewhere where he can cause trouble trust me' he said.

'I heard that Major Carter wanted to be in on this one' Sheppard remarked, 'we worked together on a project a while back, captured the first Foo Fighter we got intact' he added. Technically he just prompted the idea but he liked to think of himself as being an out-of-the-box ideas man, implementation was better left to the engineers.

McKay growled. 'She's overrated' he said, 'cute but overrated' he told Sheppard.

'Cute?' Sheppard repeated quizzically.

'I like dumb blonds' McKay told him. 'I'm going to start bringing the naquadah reactors up slowly, dump the power into the capacitors for the shield buffer for now' he told him.

'You're the expert' Sheppard replied.

'Yes I am' McKay agreed, concentrating as he began to fully power up the ship's systems.

They were still a few minutes away from the race starting and Sheppard decided to take another look at what the local news networks were saying. He could project the live visual feed from TCNN into his eyepiece and the audio through his headset was actually pretty funny, it was a little like watching a sports channel back home only with even more blatant advertising. TCNN also belonged to the race sponsors, Tech Con, so needless to say it was pushing the race to its viewers hard.

The favourites were a woman named La'el Montrose and a man named Muirios, the latter being regarded as the better pilot whereas the former had the faster ship. The only betting being placed on the "Earthlings" was whether or not they might beat the Seberus piloted by the Serrakin Warrick and therefore not come dead last... the odds were they wouldn't according to the latest numbers from Tech Con's network of Gaming Kiosks.

'Did you put any money on us to win?' Sheppard asked.

'I don't gamble' McKay replied, looking intently at a screen. He looked up and smirked. 'So yes I did' he told him.

A voice came over the loudspeaker in the Avenger's cockpit. '_This is Tech Con flight control, standby for race start_' it announced.

'Boy are they going to be surprised at this' McKay stated happily. 'Naquadah reactors to ninety-percent rated maximum, Gravity/Induction Drives coming on line' he said, turning in his chair to look back at all the machinery filling most of the bay that normally carried a full platoon of soldiers in Powered Armour.

An Avenger was normally powered by a goa'uld gravity drive, one copied from a Tel'tak with a few improvements. Given that they already knew Hebridan sub-light engines could leave any goa'uld craft for dust it was a no-brainer to pull the standard drive and add elerium powered engines, the Gravity/Induction Drives used by the latest model F-302X in fact.

The new F-302X Tranche 2 itself carried a pair of Gravity/Induction Drives, given the Avenger was considerably more massive it had been equipped with eight of them but beyond that the custom built craft had also been equipped with an excessively large elerium tank that meant Sheppard could be profligate with his fuel.

When the race started John Sheppard whooped, put all eight engines to full thrust and then hit the afterburners as McKay squeezed his eyes shut.

To say the commentators and the other race participants were somewhat shocked when the Earthing craft shot out ahead of the pack leaving a blinding plasma trail behind it was an understatement. It out-accelerated every other ship with apparent ease and had already built up a clear lead when Sheppard shut off the afterburners to save them for the long-straight speed-run in the final stage.

Before they got to the end however they would have to deal with the other obstacles and trials which made up the race. The first part was designed to test the defensive capacity of each ship and consisted of a large number of armed drones which would fire at and chase the ships running the course. 'Coming up on the little robots' Sheppard announced.

McKay opened his eyes, well the afterburners didn't kill them at least he thought with considerable relief. 'Electro-Plasmic Shields on-line and fully charged' he said, checking the display, 'shield buffer and reserve capacitor bank at one-hundred percent' he continued. 'Preparing to route all reactor power to defensive and offensive systems when required' he told the pilot.

'We're allowed to shoot these things up right?' Sheppard queried.

'Of course, didn't you read the race guide?' McKay responded.

'Just wanted to make sure I was remembering right' Sheppard told him. 'Nothing on Radar but the Emissions Targeting System has a lock' he said as targeting crosshairs appeared in front of him, project by the eye-piece. 'Firing Laser Cannon, Pulse mode.'

The drones were not very well protected themselves and the Avenger blasted several out of the sky as it ploughed through their midst, shield absorbing their own fire. The sheer number of them meant that they were hammering the shield hard, especially given that the other entrants in the race were lagging behind and the attention of the drones wasn't split but even their collective firepower wasn't enough to overwhelm the electro-plasmic bubble that protected the Avenger before the rest of the ships arrived and drew away the drones.

'Shield recharging' McKay announced, 'we don't want to get near that sun with them at less than full power' he said. 'Or at least I sure as hell don't' he added with a grimace as they headed towards the next stage, a dash through the chromosphere of the system's sun.

As they headed through the outer layers of the star the radiation and electromagnetic interference being to effect communications badly and Sheppard was annoyed that he couldn't track the progress of the other ships by listening to TCNN. He knew they were still out in front, and that a few of the ships had already been knocked out of the race already by the drones, but he had been reveling in the commentary, the Hebridan media were astounded at the turn of events so far.

'You know if the shield failed we'd be incinerated almost instantly' McKay pointed out.

'Yeah' Sheppard agreed. 'How about some music to take our minds off it?' he suggested, pressing a button on the console, a record starting which he started to sing along to.

"_Love is a burning thing  
And it makes a fiery ring  
Bound by wild desire  
I fell into a Ring of Fire_ "

McKay turned and narrowed his eyes at the pilot as he started singing the chorus.

"_I fell into a burning Ring of Fire  
I went down, down, down  
And the flames went higher  
And it burns, burns, burns  
The Ring of Fire  
The Ring of Fire_ "

McKay was plotting revenge when they cleared the sun and headed towards the next stage. As communications cleared up they picked up TCNN once more and Sheppard switched from Johnny Cash to the race commentary.

'One of the ships is in trouble' Sheppard noted, 'it's heading towards the sun.'

'Engine failure' McKay agreed.

'It's Warrick, the alien that SG-1 helped out' Sheppard told him.

'Sucks to be him I guess' McKay responded. 'Oh crap you want to go back and help don't you?' he asked rhetorically. 'We're supposed to be winning a race here' he pointed out. 'Our lead isn't _that_ big' he said.

'If _we_ were falling towards the sun wouldn't you hope someone would save _us_?' Sheppard asked.

'Yes' McKay replied after a pause. 'Plotting new course, if we do this right we should be able to push him away from the star, build up enough momentum to get him out of danger long enough for someone else to rescue him.'

'We can nudge him shield to shield?' Sheppard asked.

'They can absorb kinetic impacts, just don't slam into his ship too fast, the shields are already going to be under strain from the sun' McKay replied, 'and it's more like a bounce than a nudge, think like it's a game of pool and we're the cue-ball' he advised as Sheppard bought the Avenger around, heading back into the star.

After giving Warrick the fright of his life as the Avenger appeared from nowhere and bounced him away from the star Sheppard rejoined the race finding he was now last and had to hit the afterburners again to try and catch up. The next stage was a test of maneuverability through an unusually densely packed asteroid belt and to the horror of McKay whilst he did shut down the burners Sheppard went through at full engine power using the Vector Control Thrusts to tear through the course whipping around the asteroids like a maniac.

'Who gave you a pilot's license?' McKay exclaimed as they hurtled past a tumbling rock the size of a sky-scraper.

'You can criticise my personality but don't ever insult my piloting skills' Sheppard told him. 'Ah overtaken another one' he said happily. 'Up to third place' he declared.

McKay tried to concentrate on his job and not look outside. 'You know that ship Muirios is flying has better performance than we thought' he said. 'It's only in first place because it's out-accelerating the chick running second' he said.

'Maybe he's using that Ion Pro stuff they keep mentioning on the TV?' Sheppard suggested.

'They both are' McKay replied. 'He's getting way better performance out of his ship than everyone else, if it wasn't for the afterburners he wouldn't be too much slower than we are' he said.

'Then praise be to the afterburners' Sheppard declared, 'how much fuel have we got to dump into them?' he asked.

'Wait until we get into the last stage and keep holding them on until I tell you we're going to either blow up or not have enough left to stop' McKay replied.

'Now you're talking McKay' Sheppard replied.

'Call me Rodney' McKay told him.

'John' Sheppard replied.

Clearing the asteroids it was down to three ships with the Avenger in the rear. Sheppard hit the afterburners again and they started to make up ground fast, burning precious, still irreplaceable elerium like it was nothing but regular naquadah.

'Gaining on Montrose' McKay said as they approached the next ship Now on the final stage a flat-out race Sheppard just had the throttles up and his crewmate tried to ignore the blinking warning lights that indicated they really shouldn't be treating the engines this way. 'Bye, bye girly' he said, giving her ship a little wave as they tore past hot on the heels of Muirios, the human Hebridan in first place.

'Can you get anything else out of the engines?' Sheppard asked.

'No' McKay replied. 'We should be nearly past him before we have to give up on the afterburners and we're still quicker' he said. 'Marginally' he added.

'So we'll overtake before the finish line?' Sheppard checked.

'Well I hope so' McKay replied. 'We can guarantee a win if you don't mind taking a risk and you can really fly as well as you say.'

'Spit it out Rodney' Sheppard told him.

'If we keep the burners going longer we won't have enough fuel to stop like I said' McKay told him, '_unless_ we use the planet for aerobraking' he said. 'The shield will take it. It'll probably _look_ more spectacularly dangerous than it really is' he said. 'Big trail of fire in the upper atmosphere' he explained.

Sheppard grinned. 'I _love_ this plan' he declared.

In the end it wasn't the truly exciting photo-finish that Sheppard would have ideally hoped for as they won by a good five seconds which was a huge lead at those velocities. The images recorded on TCNN of the Avenger skipping off the planet's atmosphere as it aerobraked were damn cool though and he made sure to get a copy made he could show to anybody back home with the necessary security clearance.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_Erebus was the world where Bra'tac and Ry'ac were being held in episode 7:04 Orpheus. In this storyline they never went there to look for recruits, they already have plenty as the Free Jaffa are being more effective generally. In the episode it was the Tau'ri that liberated the camp, here the Free Jaffa get all the glory of that plus they get their hands on the Ha'tak being built there. The mortars used as fire-support by the Tau'ri in the show are replaced here by shoulder-carried Light Staff-Cannon. Teal'c used a similar weapon taken from a downed deathglider, it would be somewhat easier to aim if not fired from the hip! __"Alliance" means something interesting to the Tok'ra. We learn in episode 2:11 The Tok'ra that to them the word also signifies the blending of a Tok'ra with it's host. Here we're seeing the start of a cultural symbiosis with the Free Jaffa, they really do complement each others resources and abilities very well. __Jaffa being able to establish contact with their implanted prim'ta when in deep kelno'reem comes from episode 4:04 Crossroads. It takes years for a symbiote in a Jaffa to mature naturally so the one in Bra'tac is still very young and likely undeveloped as yet._

_The rescue of the people from P3X-289 took place in episode 7:05 Revisions. It was in episode 7:06 Lifeboat that Daniel got several additional minds downloaded into his brain whilst investigating a crashed ship on P2A-347. In the show Doctor Frasier had a great deal of trouble dealing with the conciousness of Martice, the Sovereign of Talthus. Here whilst also trying to help Heimdall the Asgard also had trouble... Heimdall is voiced by the same actress who portrays Janet Frasier of course! __Being able to rapidly clone and age a human copy with Asgard technology is demonstrated by Loki himself in episode 7:03 Fragile Balance, he made "Mini-Jack" (though not by design). We see conciouness transfer carried out several times on the show and Harlan managed to separate two which were mixed together (second time around anyway) in episode 1:19 Tin Man. For that matter they did it in Stargate Atlantis episode 2:04 Duet too. __The Seeker Project for detecting large ships travelling through hyperspace was mentioned in episode 2:06 Thor's Chariot. In X-COM: Interceptor you could launch relatively short-ranged sensor probes to look for enemy bases and detect hostile fighters so I've got the Tollan borrowing that idea when trying to find Loki. __The Mind Shield of X-COM: UFO Defence made it much more difficult for an alien scouting ship to detect the location of your bases telepathically. Originally it was so large it could only be used on a building but by the era of X-COM: Interceptor set sixty years later it had been minaturised enough to be built into a fighter cockpit and then by the 2080's (X-COM: Apocalypse) it was a hand-held device (albeit not properly implemented in the game). The Tollan Cruisers could evade sensors thanks to their phased cloak but Loki's telepaths could still detect the crew aboard if it wasn't for a Mind-Shield so the latter would be needed for a surprise boarding action._

_XSGCOM does the Loop of Kon Gerat from episode 7:08 Space Race. Given that Sheppard is a big fan of Johnny Cash I thought the song very apt! __Gravity/Induction Drives from X-COM: Interceptor had afterburners, great for extra thrust not so good for fuel efficiency!_


	50. Chapter 50

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – August 2003**

'He bought down the _entire_ Stargate network?' Elizabeth Weir asked incredulously, looking across the briefing room table at the distressed looking scientist who was shuffling nervously in his seat trying to force a weak smile he hoped looked endearing enough that it might stop General Hammond firing him... or maybe Commander Sharp firing him from a cannon.

'The computer virus spread throughout the system because of correlative updates between the gates' Carter explained to the IOA Representative.

'Correlative updates?' Weir queried.

Carter turned to Felger. 'You can explain' she told him, he really needed to wipe that stupid smile off his face, the situation was extremely grave she thought.

Felger cleared his throat. 'We've long surmised that every couple of centuries the gates are programmed to automatically dial each other so that the DHD's can relay their exact new positions in the galaxy' he began, 'stellar drift you understand?' he asked Weir.

'The drift that meant only the Abydos and Heliopolis stargates were still close enough to be dialled from Earth without a DHD to compensate' Weir responded, 'until we obtained the list of gate address from Abydos and calculated the drift adjustment required ourselves that is' she said.

'Right' Felger confirmed.

'I've read an awful lot of the files' Weir told Hammond, who judging from his expression seemed mildly surprised that she was so well informed.

'We think that somehow, though I honestly can't see how, the DHD virus we sent to P5S-117 also triggered the correlative update command and then it started to spread exponentially through the entire Milky Way network disabling them all in a matter of hours' Felger explained.

'Stranding SG Teams on planets throughout the galaxy' Hammond noted, glaring at Felger.

'It was an accident Sir, I didn't foresee this eventuality either' Carter spoke up in Felger's defence.

'Regardless of the allocation of blame, which can come later, I'm sure the IOA will be most interested in finding out what you're doing to fix it' Weir told them.

'We're working on that' Felger told her awkwardly, forcing another "winning" smile.

Carter fought back the urge to kick him under the table. 'Fortunately our own gate is still operational because we don't use a DHD' she told Weir. 'In addition the Tollan built stargates are also still working, because they use a different programming language, so we still have full access to Tollana, Optrica, Aschen Prime and a few other worlds including Terra Nova, the Omega Site' she said.

'Have we talked to the Tollan?' Weir queried.

'Yes we've been in contact' Hammond confirmed, 'they weren't very complementary about the whole thing' he said, understating the tone of the transmission the Curia sent the SGC quite a bit. 'A Tollan expert in Stargate DHD coding will be arriving soon to try and assist us in finding a solution.'

'Perhaps we should have run this by them first?' Weir suggested. 'Easy to say in hindsight I'm sure but I guarantee it will be what any investigation into this affair will comment' she told them.

Felger swallowed. 'Investigation?' he asked her.

'Face it, you took down the stargate network' Weir responded, 'something which had run reliably for millions of years as far as we know' she said. 'Even if we get it fixed people in high places are going to want details.'

'And someone's head on a block' Felger groaned. It had been far too rushed a project, implemented long before it was properly tested. The problem was that he had been facing getting transferred out of the program completely after that unfortunate mishap with the Phase Cannon and he had needed to produce results fast. If only the thing hadn't fritzed out and knocked the SGC breakers off-line with an EMP pulse when he was demonstrating it to Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter, he thought sadly. Everyone back at Area 51 had told him they still didn't understand enough of the principles behind the weapon but he was sure he knew best, it couldn't be all that different from the earlier Plasma Pulse Cannon Loki had used before it surely? He had been certain right up to the moment it all went horribly wrong.

His assistant Chloe was right, Felger knew in his heart. Like she had told him several times he always overreached himself trying to impress others and just ended up making them disappointed in him instead. If he had gotten the Phase Cannon to work months before anyone had thought possible he would have been a hero, largely unsung of course like most X-COM or SGC scientists, but he would have known that when the F-302X pilots took to the skies they'd be packing the most effective Directed-Energy-Weapon ever mounted on a fighter and it would have been him that got it done for them. Moreover Sam Carter would know too and he was desperate to impress her, even if he knew it was just a stupid crush. Why would a beautiful and intelligent woman like her that lived such an action-packed lifestyle look twice at him really, he realised dejectedly.

'We might be able to introduce an anti-virus that will fix the problem and then spread the same way through the network' Carter told them. 'The problem is we'll have to do so from the original DHD that was infected' she noted.

'Why?' Weir wanted to know. 'Surely if all the DHD's are connected through the network we can do so from any of them, perhaps even the one we have ourselves in the X-COM base in Poland.'

Felger sighed. 'Well the truth is we don't know how the virus was transmitted exactly' he admitted. 'If it piggybacked with the automatic correlative update, that means it's buried somewhere within the dialing program itself. We're talking thousands of lines of code you know, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack' he told her.

'But we do know that the virus exists within a very specific sub-routine of the original target DHD on P5S-117' Carter added. 'The catch is, in order to make this work we have to reboot the system which means removing the control crystal physically, we can't just transmit the new code to the DHD there and overwrite the existing program like we did for the original virus.'

Weir frowned. 'Should I assume that travelling to P5S-117 is a problem?' she asked.

'Yes, it's one of the principle naquadah mining planets belong to Baal' Hammond told her. 'That was the reason we decided to target it' he said.

'Ironically in our attempt to damage Baal we've actually managed to strengthen his hand' Carter said regretfully.

'How so?' Weir asked.

'Baal has the largest fleet of any of the System Lords at present' Carter replied. 'Once you add in the fleets of Bastet, Kali and Amaterasu to his available forces he has a massive advantage in star-lift capability' she said. 'With the stargates not working he's the only one that is able to move large numbers of troops around and he's already using that advantage to attack his neighbours, starting with Camulus.'

'Marvellous' Weir said sardonically, shaking her head. 'I can only imagine what the Tok'ra and Free Jaffa are going to say about this' she said. 'They hit Baal where it hurts by stealing a Ha'tak out from under his nose and then we give him a massive strategic advantage.'

'Time is of the essence' Hammond told her, 'the sooner we can get the network running again the sooner the balance of power is going to be restored' he said.

'But if we send personnel to P5S-117 and they can't fix the problem doesn't that mean they'll be stranded there in enemy territory?' Weir queried. 'Presumably the planet has a large garrison?' she checked.

'Our intel supported by Tok'ra sources indicates at least a full battalion of Jaffa although most are deployed to guard the mines not the gate itself' Hammond confirmed.

'I'll volunteer to go' Felger said, raising his hand.

'I wasn't thinking that you going to sort out your own mess was going to be all that voluntary' Hammond told him.

'I'll go with him' Carter said, 'it'll likely take two of us to do the job anyway' she noted.

'Will the rest of SG-1 be going with you?' Weir asked.

'Unfortunately they're all stranded off-planet which is why I'm so motivated to get this dealt with' Carter told her.

'You and me both Major' Hammond told her. 'Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c were meeting with a Free Jaffa group on P3C-249 delivering Staff-Rifles and other supplies and Doctor Jackson is on P3L-997 assisting a UNHCR Team with a relocation project' he told Weir. 'Jonas Quinn is back home on Langara giving lectures and demonstrations on psionics' he continued. 'We're hoping he returns to the SGC after helping to get their training program operational.'

'It might be worth noting that several of our top experts in psionics are also on Langara and the world doesn't have a Tollan gate' Carter added. 'I'm just glad we didn't let Cassie go because if we had Janet would probably be in here right now beating up Doctor Felger' she said.

Felger laughed briefly before Weir looked at him knowingly. 'She's hit me before because of her daughter, don't think that was necessarily a joke on the Major's part' the diplomat advised him. 'You say we still have full access to the Omega Site?' she asked Hammond.

'Yes Ma'am' Hammond replied.

'Then might I suggest Major Carter and Doctor Felger first travel there to pick up reinforcements before heading on to P5S-117' she said. She wasn't a huge fan of some of X-COM's methods or attitudes generally but it was clear that in a combat situation they were extremely capable.

'That would be running the risk of stranding even more personnel, if that wasn't an issue I would just assign a combat team myself' Hammond replied. 'I was going to send our available armed MALP's along with the Major as support' he said. 'Hardware is easier to replace than good people' he said, maybe not Felger he thought to himself guiltily afterwards.

'The Hovertanks kept at the Omega Site could be useful though' Carter said. The SGC didn't have any itself, they were all kept at either the Omega Site or the base in Poland for simple reasons of storage space.

'I'll have the Omega Site dialled and request they be deployed' Hammond agreed. A trio of those things shouldn't have much trouble holding off a few hundred Jaffa, especially with a few Mighty-MALP's along for good measure.

'I'd better get the anti-virus ready and grab a uniform from storage' Felger said, standing up. 'I should probably requisition a weapon, I'm checked out on the L2-A2' he told them.

'Just don't accidentally shoot Major Carter or the DHD' Hammond requested.

'I won't let you down Sir' Felger declared, offering a sloppy salute.

'Again' Hammond corrected him, 'you won't let me down _again_' he said meaningfully.

'Yeah, all going to run smooth from now on' Felger vowed, hoping he was going to be able to keep the promise for once and not just because if he couldn't he'd be stuck on the other side of the galaxy on a goa'uld controlled planet.

* * *

**Jaffa Village - Hak'tyl - August 2003**

'So you're pretty sure the mating thing isn't on the cards?' Colonel O'Neill asked Daniel, looking around. According to Ishta the leader of the group some of the girls hadn't even seen a man before which at least explained the stares that he, Daniel and Teal'c were getting.

'No' Daniel replied, rifling through his pockets looking for a ration bar. 'Just because these women remind me of the Amazon mythos doesn't mean there's either any truth to the legend, or that they'd have any other cultural similarities anyway' he said. 'It's just not likely they've bought us here for breeding stock' he said apologetically.

O'Neill sighed. 'We'll have to luck out one day' he said in hope.

Teal'c had been inspecting his laser rifle and now looked up. 'My wife would kill me' he stated with certainty.

'How would she know?' O'Neill asked. 'We'd be on another planet' he pointed out.

'Were you not married once O'Neill?' Teal'c asked him rhetorically. 'Did you not once tell me that she could "read you like a book"?'

'Large print, with notes in the margin' O'Neill admitted. 'Okay so if we ever visit the planet of the nymphomaniacs Danny and I will do the right thing and take care of your share' he offered.

'That is very magnanimous of you O'Neill' Teal'c replied, deadpan sarcasm at its best.

O'Neill smiled. 'Well what are friends for?' he asked.

'You know if Sam and Lyudmila were listening we'd be in trouble' Daniel pointed out. 'Well you would at least' he told O'Neill, 'I'm just the innocent bystander in this fantasy scenario you've clearly put some though into.'

'They're out of ear-shot' O'Neill replied. 'Anyway the Sergeant is in a good mood because she got to shoot up those Jaffa belonging to Moloc that tried to ambush us earlier and Carter is still on a high because she sorted out that problem on P5S-117 so fast' he said.

'With Felger's help' Daniel noted. 'He was the one that figured out Baal had screwed with the virus so that it infected all the other gates and put on a patch to the DHD programs to stop anyone else doing it again once he fixed it right?'

O'Neill frowned. 'Okay the guy's smart' he admitted, 'he just needs to be kept on a tight leash and he's not nearly lucky enough' the Colonel opined.

'You can't quantify luck Jack or expect people to have it' Daniel responded.

'Napoleon did and he did okay' O'Neill countered. 'He used to ask how lucky an officer was before promoting him' he said then paused. 'I'd have been a Field Marshall' he said confidently.

'You don't speak French' Daniel reminded him.

'But I am _very_ lucky' O'Neill countered. Or to be more accurate he had rather come to find over the years that other peoples luck seemed to fail in his presence, this typically either led to Daniel getting hurt or embarrassed to the point of mortification, or else the enemy of the day ending up in deep trouble.

Inside the tent belonging to Ishta, the leader of the Hak'tyl resistance, Major Carter and Sergeant Andianov were sat on rugs as the Jaffa women explained the situation and why they were seeking an alliance. O'Neill had been quite annoyed that Ishta and her lieutenants would only deal with the female members of the team but if that was how it had to be he eventually agreed to wait outside, albeit whilst still making comments regarding reverse-sexism.

Neith was by far the most hostile to their presence both in the tent and on the planet generally and her body language and general attitude expressed that clearly. After a couple of icy minutes Andianov had fixed her with a piercing glare which Neith saw as a challenge and returned. They were now engaged in a battle of wills, staring daggers at each other whilst Ishta and her other deputy Mala made more civilised conversation with Major Carter.

'Your troops are well trained' Carter told Ishta, they had demonstrated good skills when the counter-ambushed the Jaffa of Moloc trying to capture SG-1 so it was true as well as being diplomatic.

'All Jaffa women are trained to fight so that they can defend their homes when the men are off fighting wars' Ishta replied. 'Few get to practice their skills as we do however' she added. 'Few have little choice as we do' she said.

Carter nodded. 'Mala told us you were seeking an alliance with the Tau'ri' she said.

Ishta nodded. 'We have need of weapons and supplies' she said. 'We are short of both and weak as we are we cannot save but a fraction of our sisters that we would wish to' she said sadly.

'I'm sorry but I don't really know much about your situation' Carter admitted. 'We haven't had much dealing with Moloc because his territory isn't near Earth or any of our allies' she explained apologetically.

'Thirty years ago, Moloc decreed that only male children would be allowed to live' Ishta told them. 'Only they could strengthen his armies and lead him to victory in the war of the gods' she added.

Carter raised her eyebrows. 'Well, aside from the obvious immorality, that doesn't make sense' she replied. 'How do you sustain a population of any gender without women?' she asked rhetorically.

'The Jaffa lifespan is longer than humans' Ishta reminded her. 'This could go on for a hundred years' she continued. 'Any female child is to be sacrificed in the ceremony of fire, immediately after they're born' she told her.

'They're burned to death?' Carter responded in horror, Andianov breaking off her staring contest with Neith and directing an appalled expression at Ishta instead.

'Yes' Ishta confirmed flatly. 'We have been rescuing those we could' she said.

'Too few' Mala interrupted glumly.

'So how did you start bringing them here?' Carter queried.

'As a temple high priestess, part of my duty is to keep record of births' Ishta told her. 'And to preside over the ceremony of fire itself' she continued, her voice becoming more angered. 'I could not sit back and watch my sisters being murdered and do nothing' she declared forcefully.

'Who could?' Mala said quietly.

'As high priestess I, along with my seconds Mala and Neith, are allowed relatively free access to the Chappa'ai of the worlds under Moloc's rule' Ishta told the Tau'ri women.

'No one outside this camp knows you're doing this?' Carter checked.

'No' Ishta replied. 'Our duties require us to attend to many missionary matters on various planets' she said.

'So you offer the parents of these children a chance for their daughters to live' Carter reasoned.

'All but a few Jaffa under Moloc worship him religiously. Not even the parents can be trusted' Ishta responded. 'The children have to be spiritied away, secretly, for fear of being reported to the Imperial Guard' she said.

'It is punishable by death to even question the rules of the god' Male noted.

Ishta nodded. 'Over the moons we have succeeded in saving many from their birthright of death' she told them.

'So you want our help to overthrow Moloc?' Carter asked.

The Hak'tyl Jaffa looked at each other in surprise. 'We may have underestimated you' Ishta said.

'Everyone does at first' Andianov spoke up. Imaging this evil goa'uld prick in her gunsights was extremely satisfying, although perhaps turning a flame-thrower on him would be more fitting justice, she thought to herself.

'We've gone after goa'ulds before' Carter noted.

'Moloc is very powerful. His armies are vast' Ishta replied doubtfully.

'Perhaps the stories of what we did to the armies of Apophis in the field have yet to spread this far' Andianov said, extremely unimpressed by the threat he represented. He wasn't even a System Lord on the level of Bastet let alone a major player.

'We also have powerful allies' Carter added. 'The Free Jaffa led by Bra'tac for example.'

'It is said that Bra'tac and his Jaffa are nothing but pawns of the Tok'ra' Neith said dismissively.

'If you'd met him you'd know just how funny that is' Carter replied with a smile. 'It's just a rumour spread by the System Lords to try and stop other Jaffa joining' she told them. 'The Tok'ra aren't anything like the goa'uld anyway' she continued. '_They_ can help you too, I'll bet that have operatives in Moloc's inner circle that can provide valuable intelligence to your cause.'

'We already have spies throughout Moloc's domain' Neith announced, not all in his empire believed he was a god by any means.

'Jaffa spies maybe, not Tok'ra pretending to be minor goa'uld in Moloc's service' Carter responded. 'You don't think Moloc tells even his First Prime everything do you?' she asked knowingly.

'Perhaps' Ishta conceded, 'but forgive us, but our immediate goals are somewhat less ambitious than overthrowing Moloc' she said.

'It is an ongoing struggle to procure the symbiotes needed for our young to survive' Neith said, SG-1 had watched her take one from an enemy Jaffa in order to give it to a girl who had reached puberty and now required one to act as her immune system, the goa'uld had genetically engineered the Jaffa to be dependent on them once they matured. 'We lost many of our warriors in these raids' Neith continued. 'It is said your weapons are formidable' she said.

'We also require sustenance' Mala added. 'Food and supplies among our growing population are scarce' she told them.

'We are proud warriors. We offer you our services and our knowledge in return' Ishta offered. 'We have an extensive intelligence network among the Jaffa under Moloc as I said.'

Carter smiled. 'What if I were to offer you an alternative?' she asked.

'An alternative to what?' Mala asked quizzically.

'To your reliance on the Goa'uld' Carter explained. 'An ally of ours developed a drug called tretonin which can be used to keep a Jaffa healthy instead of a goa'uld symbiote' she explained, 'in the majority of cases anyway' she said. 'Some react badly to the drug, if only a minority, but in those cases we also have a source of symbiotes for you' she told them.

'Taken from dead Jaffa?' Neith asked suspiciously, she did it herself but it still bothered her deep down. The Jaffa of Moloc were only obeying the orders of one they believed was truly a god.

'No' Carter denied, 'Tok'ra symbiotes' she said. 'There aren't very many of you and if most of the girls took tretonin you wouldn't need many symbiotes for the others' she said. 'We could introduce you to Free Jaffa who already carry one' she offered.

'I still do not believe that the Tok'ra are any different than the goa'uld' Neith declared. 'Involvement with them could simply mean exchanging one master for another' she said.

Carter chuckled. 'Well Egeria the Tok'ra leader is female as is her host so "Mistress" would be closer but they really aren't like the goa'uld' she told them.

'You seem convinced of this how are you so certain?' Ishta asked.

'Well for one thing I was a host to a Tok'ra for a short while myself which gives me a good insight into them' Carter replied, 'and for another my father is host to a Tok'ra right now' she continued. 'I could introduce you to them' she said.

'We cannot bring the Tok'ra here' Neith told Ishta sternly.

'If they can truly help I am willing to go see them on your behalf' Mala said to her leader.

'You might want to find a couple of volunteers to try tretonin too, prove to yourselves it works' Carter suggested.

'This sounds like a trap' Neith declared.

'If I go with Mala and any volunteers you can keep Daniel and the Colonel outside as hostages' Carter told them. 'I'll take Teal'c with us, he can talk to the Free Jaffa too' she said.

'And what of this one?' Neith asked, indicating Andianov.

'Perhaps you might also like to see a demonstration of just how good our weapons are?' Carter replied, 'she can show you' she said. 'Just shoot up some targets for them' she told Andianov.

'The Tau'ri use many women as warriors?' Ishta asked.

'Not as many as they do men' Carter admitted. 'As a soldier Sergeant Andianov is considered exceptional however, one of the best our world has.'

'In that case I might like to test how valuable an ally the Tau'ri really are' Neith announced, getting up.

'Guns, knives or bare fists?' Andianov responded, getting up herself.

'I would not wish to kill you?' Neith responded with a smirk.

'You have a sense of humour' Andianov noted, 'good, that will serve you well in keeping up your morale during a long recovery' she said.

Neith was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and thanks to her symbiote and Jaffa physiology stronger than the Russian but she had underestimated the Tau'ri woman badly and it showed from the very start of the fight.

Daniel had looked concerned when the Hak'tyl formed a circle for the contest, with a rifle in her hands Andianov was dangerous beyond belief but without a firearm he wasn't sure how she would stand up to a woman so much stronger.

O'Neill had been far more relaxed and only wished someone was running a book because he'd have been wiling to bet the Hak'tyl would give long odds on the Tau'ri winning. 'Danny boy just remember two things' he said, 'the first if that nobody ever expects the Sergeant to be that fast and second she's Spetsnaz trained' he reminded him. 'Those guys train hard and they fight nasty and dirty' he said, Russian Special Forces were hard-core.

In a longer fight Neith would have won thanks to greater strength, endurance and a higher pain threshold, if she had taken it more seriously at first she might have too for that matter, but instead Andianov made it a short vicious display. The Sergeant delivered a rapid series of kicks and punches that left the Jaffa moaning and bleeding on the ground in less than a minute, avoiding almost all counter-blows herself. It would have been over even sooner but Andianov had to kick her in the ribs hard several times to knock the fight out of her at the end. 'I suggest you all seek training in the Jaffa martial art known as mastaba' the Sergeant advised the Hak'tyl who were staring at her wide-eyed. 'An alliance with the Free Jaffa would serve you well' she said.

At the Free Jaffa Camp on Hanka where Carter took her and the other volunteers Mala rejected tretonin and reacted so badly to the drug she nearly died. A tok'ra saved her with a healing device and she later returned home carrying a Tok'ra symbiote to sustain her.

Egeria and Bra'tac decided that the removal of Moloc and the saving of countless Jaffa girls from death was both a moral imperative and helpfully represented another potentially useful test of the effectiveness of their joint operations. Free Jaffa and Tok'ra forces guided by the Hak'tyl were hitting Moloc hard before the week was out, it would be a long campaign but to the alliance Moloc made a wonderful enemy any right-thinking Jaffa or Tok'ra could easily get behind fighting. When you were both up against someone that had baby girls burned alive you put your reservations about your ally behind you, private opinions about Tok'ra arrogance or Jaffa obstinacy just didn't matter a damn, Moloc had to go.

A few people back on Earth were starting to express quiet reservations of their own however. The Free Jaffa and Tok'ra were collectively far more powerful together than they ever were alone and they were becoming more of a growing independent power in their own right rather than a couple of minor irritants to the System Lords. The doom mongers in X-COM and the IOA were generally ignored by the majority of decision-makers however, the goa'uld still ruled the galaxy and it was in Earth's interest to support and assist any group that opposed them.

Ishta found herself one of the inner circle of the Alliance, much to the chagrin of some of the more traditional male Jaffa. She found she disliked politics immensely but was willing to make any sacrifice to help her people so she ignored the snide comments about a woman's place being at home and represented the Hak'tyl to the best of her ability.

Neith became a mastaba master and ended up teaching it to others. She particularly liked beating up new male recruits to the Free Jaffa ranks who regarded the idea of being taught anything of combat by a woman with derision. They always underestimated her at first and paid the price, this was something she never did to an opponent herself again.

* * *

**Sectoid Starbase – Frontier Star Cluster - September 2003**

Colonel Gomez Rodrigues looked at the printed image of the space station they were heading towards laid out over the table. He was already wearing his suit of powered armour, albeit minus the helmet, and looked extremely imposing next to the others in the room.

The Tollan Cruiser, or "Ghostrider" as the Tau'ri called them, had dropped out of hyperspace hundreds of thousands of kilometres from the station. With its phasing cloak engaged but the inertial dampeners turned off it had run up to a good speed on sub-light engines then switched them off, powering down all non-essential systems and heading towards the station as stealthily as possible. With the fifty-plus tonne Mind-Shield in the cargo bay hopefully preventing them being detected by less tangible means it was believed they could run right up to the target and be on top of it and boarding before Loki's forces knew what the hell was going on. Like all plans it relied on an element of luck and some guesswork on enemy capabilities but it seemed like the best way to capture the thing intact with any defenders aboard caught off-guard.

The station was larger than a Ha'tak and must have been constructed out here between star systems because according to the Tollan it lacked any kind of drive system. 'Looks kinda organic' Rodrigues observed, looking at the picture which had been taken by a high-resolution camera mounted on a Tollan reconnaissance drone. The surface looked almost like the skin of an aquatic animal in some ways and it had three tendril-like protuberances that seem to hang off it adding to the perception that it was more animal than mechanism.

'We think it was partially grown, not just put together from sections Loki had dragged out here' Trevoc the Tollan Officer acting as liaison between the crew and their Tau'ri guests replied. 'One of the two other stations is still being built' he said. 'Our drones recorded a new type of ship we've called a Harbinger arriving there with a large piece of hull material it had towed through hyperspace with tractor beams' he told them, 'once it was slotted into place you could see the rest of the structure start to merge into it.'

'That doesn't sound much like Asgard technology, other than the tractor beams' Major Carter observed. She had been invited along as an observer, just in case her scientific skills were needed by the boarding party, and was hoping Rodigues the mission commander would let her leave the protection of the mind-shielded Tollan vessel and enter the fray once any hostile telepaths had been dealt with. It was a little annoying that Lieutenant Hailey would be going in before her though, Carter thought ruefully. Hailey had scored considerably higher in psionic strength than her mentor when tested and was considered less of a potential liability for that reason. Add in her proven ability to figure out alien technology in a hurry, sometimes under fire, and the fact she was experienced in wearing Powered Armour and the diminutive Hailey had been snapped up for this particular mission.

'We believe the organic component is of Nox origin, or at least derived from it' Trevoc replied.

'Nox?' Carter queried in surprise.

'The Asgard have known the Nox for tens of thousands of years, they probably know an awful lot about their technology and Loki likely just took the data with him where he decided to go it alone' Trevoc told her. 'Nox organic technology isn't as hardy or resilient as Asgard materials which is probably why our grey friends prefer trinium and naquadah alloys for their hulls' he said, 'based on our own research we concluded that the organic hull wouldn't stand up well to prolonged periods in hyperspace for example due to the effects of ionising radiation, but for a space station that's not going anywhere it's perfectly viable and it grows itself so you can build fast.'

'How do we know that this is the station which has the most elerium manufacturing capacity?' Rodrigues asked curiously.

'Deductive reasoning' Trevoc replied, 'we've tracked considerably more transports coming here from the systems where Loki's naquadah mines are based' he said. 'This may simply be the oldest and most established station hence the industry inside is more developed' he said.

'But no Loki?' Carter asked.

'The intercepted transmissions we decoded indicates he isn't in the Frontier and perhaps hasn't been for some time' Trevoc replied regretfully, they _had_ been hoping desparately to catch him. 'The stations are seemingly controlled by an AI copy of his mind like the one you found on Mars.'

Carter smiled. 'The Frontier?' she asked.

'This area of space is unclaimed and largely unexploited' Trevoc replied. 'Once we've cleared out Loki's forces the Curia plans to set up mines of our own' he said. 'Now that the Asgard have agreed to provide us with their hyperdrive designs this star cluster is close enough for us to set up viable mining and ore-processing operations.'

'We're a lot nearer to Langara than Tollana' Carter noted, 'Earth is closer for that matter' she pointed out.

'There are over a hundred stars in this cluster, most of them with planetary systems and many with highly extensive asteroid belts' Trevoc replied, 'we aren't going to annex the whole thing, just start exploiting a few of them' he said.

'You're right, it _is_ the Frontier' Carter realised. 'I can see Earth and Hebridan wanting to establish a presence here too' she decided.

'Of course that would be easier if you had someone that could provide stargates to facilitate transporting the materials back to your homeworlds' Trevoc responded with a smile.

'That'll earn you guys a few bucks' Rodrigues observed knowingly.

'You should see what we're charging the Aschen for setting up stargates in a few systems bordering their Confederation' Trevoc said. 'Given our monopoly of supply, with the Nox not selling themselves, we could ask for a lot more than we do' he noted. 'Of course Earth gets a sizeable discount' he added.

'Because we supply the naquadah you make them from' Carter responded before checking her watch. 'I make it five minutes before we're due to arrive' she said.

Rodrigues grinned. 'I'll go join my troopers' he said, 'when I left them they were singing pirate songs' he told them. 'With a few words changed on occasion' he told them.

'Pirate songs?' Carter asked, wondering if she should.

'We're talking stuff like "Fifteen goa'uld in a sarcophagus, Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum" and worse' Colonel Rodrigues replied.

'Sarcophagus doesn't rhyme very well' Carter told him.

'None of them can sing very well to start with so that's not the major reason I left them to it' Rodrigues replied. 'Your girl Hailey was pretty good though' he said. 'Her "What do you do with a drugged-up trooper" was a hit' he told her.

'Ever the wunderkind' Carter responded, Hailey was good at just about everything that didn't require being more than munchkin sized, it was a little annoying to be honest.

'She probably shouldn't have been grinning at Captain Gaston when she did the verse that went "Put him in a bed with the Commander's Daughter" though' Rodrigues suggested. 'The Boss might not approve' he said, laughing.

Carter looked momentarily confused. 'Commander's daughter?' she queried.

'Cassandra Fraiser, Gaston supposedly took her out on a date' the X-COM Colonel explained. 'The Commander is dating her Mom so...' he continued. 'Well general opinion is that Gaston is either insanely brave by _our_ standards or he cheated on the intelligence tests that got him into the team' he said.

'How do you know about this and I _don't_?' Carter asked incredulously. 'Cassie and some X-COM psycho?' she said before remembering who she was talking to. 'No offence meant' she added awkwardly.

'None taken, I wouldn't let anyone on the COM near any daughter I had' Rodrigues replied honestly. 'Now if you'll excuse me I've got to lead some maniacs storming a fortress' he said brightly.

Trevoc watched the Colonel leave, the man having to duck to squeeze through the doorway in his armour. 'There's something very wrong with those people' he opined. 'Even by Earth standards' he told Carter.

'Yeah but they're useful for things like this' Carter replied. 'Cassie and Gaston' she said again to herself. 'As soon as I get home I'm talking to Janet' she decided.

The first indication that anyone on the space station had that something was happening was when the Tollan ship put its engines to full reverse-thrust to stop just short of the station, the phase-cloak disengaged and the Ghostrider crashed against it.

The Powered Armour suits were fully self-contained and rated safe for use in a vacuum so rather than messing around with trying to get an airlock seal the boarders simply blew a hole in the side of the station and entered that way.

At first there was little to no resistance, the reason for that becoming apparent later. Loki did not bother to construct quarters on the stations for his pilots and soldiers, they were simply kept efficiently in suspended animation until needed, and it took some time to revive them let alone arm them and send them into battle.

The elite X-COM Troopers rapidly spread out through the station, gunning down any alien they saw. They weren't expected to take prisoners and they made no effort to, any hostiles which were hit by zat'nik'tel discharges being shot in the head as a coup-de-grace afterwards.

They were however ordered to minimise collateral damage so where possible they avoided indiscriminate use of their Heavy Plasma Rifles and eschewed grenades other than Goa'uld Shock devices.

A number of Spectre and Phantasm fighters and their crews had been kept ready to launch in case of a more conventional assault and these were scrambled immediately, the alien craft attacking the Tollan vessel which was lodged against the station. The Tollan had been ready for this and having no wish to be shot at by the fighters they solved the problem by phasing again, this time bringing the whole station along for the ride.

Trevoc was on the bridge of the Ghostrider when it phased. A Spectre was firing its pulsed plasma weapons at the ship at the time and he enjoyed the disconcerting experience of having a bolt of energy go straight through the bulkhead, and then through him before continuing on its way unimpeded by either. It caused no damage whatsoever of course, other than to his state of mind which was more than enough from his personal perspective.

Because of the size of the station, and the maze of corridors and chambers which had to be negotiated and explored, by the time the boarding party was approaching where they assumed the control centre was they were starting to face determined opposition. Psionic attacks by defrosted Ethereals and plasma fired by the wakening Sectoids and hulking Muton infantry slowed the X-COM advance to the point where Colonel Rodrigues and his self-styled "Roughnecks" resorted to riskier tactics trusting that if they were killed in action they could be resurrected in a sarcophagus.

Gaston and the small team he was commanding blew open a hatch that barred their way and found themselves in a chamber full of stasis tubes, some of which had already opened and others were currently in the process of disgorging their occupants. They killed the occupants of every tube by shooting a bolt of plasma into each one in turn before continuing on their way, Gaston having to drag Lieutenant Hailey away from examining the interesting technology of the tubes.

Tollan and Earth scientists would be studying the technology of the station for years but the prize as expected was the plant which converted regular naquadah into the elerium allotrope not that it wasn't going to take a while to figure out itself because even the Tollan were left scratching their heads once they took it apart.

An Asgard O'Neill Class vessel destroyed the other two stations as soon as the signal was received that the objective was secure. It then proceeded to destroy all of Loki's mining operations in the star cluster before heading back to Ida, the renegade was still free but his power-base was considered destroyed so the High Council was satisfied, or at least they were until disquieting news came from the Tollan scientists who examined the records found on the station.

Large amounts of elerium and other raw materials had been dispatched from the cluster to another location within the past few months and the destination was unknown. There were also indications that Loki had achieved a number of recent breakthroughs in new fields and that he was developing and creating new ships, weapons and genetic creations that made his work so far look primitive.

On Tartarus Loki received the news that his mining operations and stations had been destroyed pragmatically. He had plenty of elerium stored and could always build a factory to make more in time if necessary and he didn't need his old pilots and soldiers any more, he had access to much higher quality replacements these days.

Anubis had wondered if exchanging the Ancient DNA Re-sequencer and a few other pieces of valuable technology for Loki's assistance in a few projects had been worth it, or he did right up until Thoth conceded that the upgrades the rogue Asgard had made to the Kull Warrior prototype were far beyond anything he could have managed himself. For that matter the creatures that Loki offered to Anubis to replace Jaffa as his deathglider pilots were exceptionally skilled, loyal and effective and the Asgard's own new fighter-craft which would fly in support of the Kull were advanced beyond measure.

Loki regarded Anubis as a means to an end of course. The Ancient device would enable him to quickly perfect what Thoth had called his "Hok'Asgard" and there were some other benefits to their cooperation, including the opportunity to inquire how Anubis had managed to ascend before.

The galaxy was about to face the real Axis of Evil and it wasn't ready for it.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The events of episode 7:09 Avenger 2.0 starting to be played out in the XSGCOM universe. Jay Felger who came up with the Avenger DHD virus after his plasma weapon test failed (here it's a Sectoid Phase Cannon he is trying to back-engineer instead) was a nice guy and smart enough to get into the SGC program but didn't know his limitations. He also crushed on Carter while not realising his assistance Chloe Angstrom felt much the same way about him. __In canon the SGC gate still worked because it didn't have a DHD. Having the Tollan gates still operational too is just me thinking that it's unlikely they used the same operating code and so the virus wouldn't hit them the same way._

_Being either insane or a complete bastard Moloc makes a great foe for the Free Jaffa/Tok'ra Alliance to pick on. We learn of the Hak'tyl Resistance and Molocs policy towards female children in episode 7:10 Birthright. __Teal'c is still married so no relationship developing with Ishta here. Given the attitude problem Neith had I couldn't imagine her and Andianov not coming to blows somehow! __Well, fighting Moloc keeps the Free Jaffa/Tok'ra busy for a while anyway. ;-)_

_The alien space-stations from X-COM: Interceptor had a definite organic feel to their design which was quite different from the looks and aesthetics of their ships in the first game. Having it be down to Loki using a little Nox as opposed to Asgard technology seemed to suit things. Wraith organic ships in Stargate Atlantis can't travel too long in hyperspace because of the side-effects of travelling that way, I borrowed the idea from there. __We see a small Ancient phasing device cloak the entire planet Earth in episode 10:13 The Road not Taken so having the Tollan ship be able to phase the station isn't really unreasonable at all. __Both Nirrti and later Anubis used an Ancient DNA Re-sequencer in their Hok'tar research. I figured Loki would love to get his hands on that technology and be willing to offer a lot for it! __The Kull Warrior had a number of design flaws that Loki could easily fix using knowledge gained from his own dabblings into creating super-soldiers. It's air-born counterpart here is the Aereon super-fighter-pilot from X-COM Interceptor._

_Reviews are always appreciated. Only two chapters left now!_


	51. Chapter 51

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Omega Site – Terra Nova – October 2003**

Commander Russell Sharp opened his eyes and found that he was lying in a gently lit grey metal box that was far too coffin-like for comfort. The hinged lid, also itself far too akin to that of a funeral casket in his opinion, slowly began to rise but he still had plenty of time to read the helpful note written on the underside of it just in front of his face: "This is _not_ the afterlife".

Sharp waited until the X-COM designed copy of the goa'uld sarcophagus fully opened before he sat up. There was a man in a white doctors coat sitting beside a desk writing something on a clipboard nearby and the Commander coughed to get his attention. 'Okay' Sharp began, 'what the fuck happened?' he asked. 'And where are my pants?' he added, noticing he was buck naked.

The doctor looked up from his work and turned around. 'Oh you're awake' he said in a Scottish accent. 'You were in there longer than expected' he noted, 'I guess we underestimated your injuries' he decided. 'The other three we put into the tubes got out nearly an hour ago' he continued, 'the second batch are in there now' he told Sharp, indicating the other caskets in the room which had displays indicating they were occupied.

'I'll ask again in simpler terms' Sharp responded in an annoyed tone, 'what happened and where pants?' he asked again more curtly.

'Oh you were killed in action Commander' the doctor told him, 'and you weren't the only one' he said, standing up. 'We've still got a few other corpses, I mean casualties, on ice waiting to take your place in the sarcophagus' he said. 'Good thing we got the cryogenic stasis technology from the Eurondans or we might have lost some of you permanently, there's a backlog here and at the SGC' he told him whilst fetching a surgical gown and passing it to him.

Sharp climbed out of the "coffin" and began putting on the gown, there was no point in being self-conscious in front of Doctor Beckett, the Omega Site physician had seen him naked before during his last medical exam and for that matter it was likely he had now seen his insides too for that matter. 'Is that my armour?' he asked, spotting a breastplate which had apparently been thrown into a corner of the room.

'Aye' the doctor confirmed. 'After we managed to get it off you we had to dig out a few pieces of it from your wounds before we could stick you in the sarcophagus there' he said. 'Good thing you were dead at the time' he added as Sharp walked over and picked up the torso armour. There were four fairly neat holes shot through the thick cydonium plate, one of them right over where his heart would have been which explained why he had little recollection of his death, it was probably quite quick.

Dropping the armour again Sharp frowned. 'What the hell did this?' he wanted to know. There wasn't a weapon he knew of that would have that effect. The holes were too small to be the result of hits from a goa'uld staff, the metal was still frankly in too good a condition for it to have been an elerium plasma weapon, and a laser would have made a less ragged penetration.

'What do you remember Commander?' Beckett asked professionally, sometimes those who came out of the sarcophagus could be more than a little addled.

'I was leading a mission where we were going to ambush a conference between a couple of second-rate goa'uld who were meeting on neutral ground to negotiate an alliance' Sharp recalled, thinking back.

'Tilgath and Ramius wasn't it?' the doctor prompted.

'Right' Sharp confirmed. 'We wanted to get the two goa'uld alive for interrogation so we sprung the ambush using zat's, stun-bombs and shock-grenades' he remembered, 'it went great, Tilgath and Ramius went down unconscious before they could activate their personal shields and we took down the Jaffa easily but then just when we were gathering up weapons and tying up the prisoners I remember some freak in a big black suit of armour coming through the gate and then the next thing I know is that I woke up in that thing' he said, indicating the casket he had been in.

Beckett nodded. 'Yes that's what the others said happened' he confirmed. 'You were hit with the first salvo and then the enemy soldier started taking apart your troops.'

'Son-of-a-bitch must have been fast to get the drop on me' Sharp decided. 'How many did it take out before they gunned it down?' he asked.

'It took out almost your entire team Commander' the doctor told him flatly. 'A few were only wounded but other than for two troopers that out-ran it and then managed to loop back to the gate to call for help it took down everyone you had in less than three minutes.'

Sharp blinked. 'You're shitting me' he responded eventually.

'I wish I was' Beckett replied. 'From what I heard your weapons were completely ineffective' he said flatly.

'Our laser rifles can burn through the side of an APC doctor' Sharp told him doubtfully.

'But not apparently the armour of your assailant' Beckett replied with a shrug.

'Zats don't work either, we even tried a Staff-Cannon armed HWP Sir' a familiar voice interrupted. 'Never seen armour like it' he said. 'A hit from the cannon knocked the thing over but it got back up again afterwards' he noted.

'Colonel' Sharp greeted Rodrigues who was stood in the doorway holding a spare set of grey X-COM coveralls which he threw to the Commander, with the threat of incusions by Loki's forces into the Sol System diminished Gomez Rodrigues and more than half of the X-COM soldiers who had been previously based on Earth were now assigned to the Omega Site. The rest were scattered between the eight X-COM facilities on Earth with a few on Mars. 'The Doc said we got whupped, that true?' Sharp asked.

'Yes to a point' Rodrigues replied. 'When the call for assistance came through from the last guys left mobile in your team I took another team in Powered Armour, a few Heavy Weapon Platforms and a Hovertank through' he said, 'I figured R&D would want a look at the thing we were fighting so we tried to take it down alive with Shock Grenades and then Sectoid Stun Bombs initially but nothing doing' he said. 'Bastard actually took out two of my guys and three HWP's' he growled.

'He took out Powered Armour?' Sharp responded in mild disbelief.

'Some new rapid-fire plasma weapon, it's got one on each arm' Rodrigues explained, 'it still takes a few hits in the same place to take down out PA suits but it'll do it' he said. 'In the end we had to take it down the hard way' he said.

'Heavy Plasma Rifles?' Sharp queried, 'Micro-nukes?' he wondered.

'No, I still wanted it in one piece so I had the Hovertank run into the thing at high speed' Rodrigues replied. 'It must have flown thirty feet but it still only stunned the sucker' he said, shaking his head. 'Once it was on the ground we managed beat it into submission though' he continued. 'We thought at first it might be a Jaffa in new fancy duds but boy were we surprised when we got it back to Omega and got its helmet off' he told Sharp.

'Where is it now?' Sharp asked, putting on the coveralls, he still needed footwear though.

'Chained to a wall in Alien Containment' Rodrigues told him. 'It's strong as hell' he declared. 'Ugly too' he added.

'We had to strip off the armour before we could get the MRI Scanner or X-Rays to work' Beckett said. 'Once we got a look inside I called in a few experts because I recognised some of what I was seeing.'

Sharp looked from the doctor to the Colonel. 'So what are we dealing with here?' he asked.

'Best you take a look for yourself' Rodrigues replied.

'We'll go via my quarters, I need boots' Sharp said.

'Right' Rodrigues agreed. 'So was that your first time KIA?' he asked as they headed off.

'Yeah' Sharp confirmed.

'See a bright light and some Pearly Gates?' the Colonel inquired.

'No but I'm sort of expecting rivers of lava and a red guy with horns anyway' Sharp told him honestly.

'Have you ever considered joining the Catholic Church?' Rodrigues asked. 'We've got this thing called confession and penance that might get you a Get out of Hell Free card' he noted.

'Even with that Aschen anti-aging vaccine I wouldn't live long enough to say all those Our Father's and Hail Mary's I'd need to' Sharp replied. 'To be honest I'm mainly banking on God not wanting me on Lucifer's team.'

Rodrigues thought about that. 'Yeah that might lead to Revelations needing a re-write' he decided.

Sharp wasn't too surprised to find out who the "expert" sent from Earth was when he reached the bases Alien Containment facility. Nirrti wearing a lab-coat was washing her hands after examining the subject which was now lying face up on an Examination Table taken from a Sectoid Abductor Class UFO. The Alien Surgery machine next to it looked like it needed cleaning there were spots of oddly coloured blood on it, perhaps from spray. 'Oh, you're alive' she said regretfully, throwing Sharp a look.

'And kicking' Sharp replied, 'and it'll be you that gets the kicking if you cause any trouble on my base' he told the former System Lord.

'I'd expect nothing less' Nirrti told him. There were three armed X-COM Troopers stood nearby watching her, if she tried to escape they'd zat her and then she'd lose her TV privileges for six months. 'So what do you think of our new guest?' she asked, indicating the creature which was staring blankly up at the ceiling.

Sharp looked at the humanoid alien which had translucent skin and heavy musculature. 'One of Loki's toys?' he asked.

'Yes and no' Nirrti replied. 'The creature was apparently grown in part using Asgard cloning technology but some of the genetic tampering reminds me more of my own techniques' she said. 'I've already cut it open to confirm what the scans indicated with my own eyes and it's masterful work' she said appreciatively.

'Is it dead?' Sharp queried.

'No I thought a vivisection would be more useful than a dissection so I used the paralysing device fitted to the Examination Table to keep it nicely controlled while I worked' Nirrti replied, 'I just finished closing it back up a few minutes ago.'

Sharp spotted a goa'uld hand-held Healing Device on a tray with some scalpels and other surgical instruments, Nirrti had most likely used it to finish the job neatly because the alien was unmarked. 'Okay what's the news?' he asked.

'All the internal organs are out of proportion, the heart and lungs are extremely large in order to supply sufficient oxygenated blood to its muscles which are even stronger than they look' Nirrti told him. 'The trade off for the resulting drastically increased strength and physical endurance is that it wouldn't live very long if not for two additions' she said. 'Firstly it is the host for a goa'uld symbiote which helps sustain it and regulates its enhanced physiology and secondly there are several familiar cybernetic implants which take some of the load off the organs' she continued. 'Its lifespan would be hours without the symbiote, perhaps only weeks at best without the implants.'

'The implants are familiar how so?' Sharp queried.

'They're modified versions of the ones found in the cardiovascular system of Loki's Muton soldiers' Nirrti announced. 'This creature seems to be a hybrid of several technologies' she said, 'almost a work of art' she added appreciatively.

Colonel Rodrigues scratched his nose. 'I always thought you goa'uld preferred better looking hosts' he asked Nirrti. 'This thing is uglier than an Unas that stuck its face into a blender' he opined.

'Yes' Nirrti agreed, 'and we want hosts that will live longer too, but judging from the electrical activity of the symbiotes brain it's a blank' she continued. 'It reminds me most of the non-sentient offspring the shol'va Egeria produced on Pangar' she told them. 'No real intellect or personality, it's just there to do little more than regulate organs, increase healing rates and pump a continual flow of tretonin into the host.'

Sharp crossed his arms. 'So have you mind-raped this thing yet?' he asked.

'First thing we did before we started cutting it open but unfortunately there was some brain damage to the host which didn't help us gain any useful information' Nirrti replied. 'From the cerebral architecture it wasn't likely all that intelligent anyway to start with' she said.

'The things helmet had a dent in it, probably from when the tank hit it' Rodrigues noted. 'We did find out what it's called and who it serves.'

'Loki surely?' Sharp responded quizzically.

Rodrigues shook his head. 'No it says it serves Anubis' he said. 'I guess those two have made their alliance more formal' he said.

'Shit' Sharp swore. 'So what is this thing called then?' he asked.

'It called itself a Kull Warrior' Nirrti told him then smirked. 'If I was your kind I'd be concerned about what it is exactly they're intended to cull' she said.

* * *

**Cheyenne Mountain – Earth – October 2003**

Sat in General Hammond's office Jacob Carter sighed. 'No it's worse than that George' he told his old friend. 'It's not just the damn Kull, Anubis is throwing other new weapons at the remaining System Lords _and_ he's using his new toys effectively' he said.

'What do you mean Jacob?' Hammond asked. The Tok'ra had dispatched Jacob and Selmak to Earth seeking to share information and keep the Tau'ri informed but so far it seemed to be bad news all round and getting worse by the hour.

Jacob's expression grew even more serious. 'Yesterday we received a report from Free Jaffa agents within the ranks of Lord Yu that a large force of Kull Warriors had attacked one of Yu's main bases and had wiped out better than ninety percent of the garrison in less than two hours' he said. 'Yu deployed his best troops, the ones that Apophis equipped with Staff-Rifles and Sokar's advanced armour and who joined Yu after Delmak was destroyed, but they got their butts royally kicked' he said.

'I'm not surprised' Hammond responded, 'the Kull armour and the Plasma Repeaters they carry are a hell of an edge' he stated.

'They are, but Anubis had complete air-superiority as well' Jacob told him, 'some kind of upgraded Deathglider that has a shield and as well as the normal Staff-Cannon it's got a scaled-up version of the Plasma Repeater mounted in each wing too' he continued. 'The things took out Yu's own regular Deathgliders first and then when Yu sent in the Chappa'nok'kek gate-fighters he also inherited from the armies of Apophis, thinking they'd be a better match, they got hammered too' he said.

'Apophis had started to adopt a basic combined-arms doctrine towards the end, and the Free Jaffa have been getting results my trying to emulate our ways of doing things' Hammond responded, looking concerned, 'I guess Anubis has been paying attention' he reasoned.

'Combined Arms is right George' Jacob replied. 'The Kull had tank support too' he said, earning raised eyebrows from Hammond. 'From the descriptions it sounded something like those little hovertanks Loki uses but carrying a Heavy Staff Cannon on top and a pair of Plasma Repeaters for dealing with infantry' he said. 'And it's got a freaking shield too' he added.

Hammond grimaced. 'You read our briefing about Anubis using a kind of MALP analogue to scout for him now too?' he checked. 'That carries a single Plasma Repeater and a shield for self-defence itself' he noted. 'We managed to bring one down with enough laser-rifle fire but not before it shot up half of SG's 6 and 17' he said. 'Fortunately the armour it had under the shield wasn't the Kull material or we might have lost both teams' he admitted.

Jacob nodded. 'Could be the same shield and powerplant as in the tank, assuming Anubis and Loki are using economy of scale in their production runs' he suggested. 'You know if you've got a bottle in that cabinet over there I wouldn't mind a belt right now' he added.

'You and me both' Hammond replied, getting up off his chair and heading for the cabinet. He very rarely would ever think of drinking on duty but sometimes you had to adapt to circumstances he thought to himself as he found two glasses and then fished out a decent bottle of bourbon.

'We tried to capture a Kull alive that was sent to take out Montu, a minor Goa'uld that works for Baal' Jacob told Hammond. 'Montu's First Prime Gerak is a sympathiser with the Free Jaffa cause so we managed to get a mixed team of Free Jaffa and Tok'ra onto his capital world without facing any resistance from Montu's own Jaffa' he said.

'How did that work out for you?' Hammond asked, passing Jacob a glass with a decent measure of brown liquor poured into it.

Jacob regarded the glass, Selmak was already complaining in his head about the brain cells it would kill off. 'We tried to catch it in a one-way forcefield cage and then hit it with a trinium dart full of symbiote sedative and a universal tranquilliser' he said. 'It walked right through the damn forcefield and ignored enough dope to knock out a goddamn dinosaur' he muttered, taking a drink.

'The cloth material the Kull wear underneath the armour plates is like Kevlar I'm told' Hammond said, making himself comfortable in his big leather chair again.

'It's a woven fibre made from the same basic material as the solid pieces' Jacob replied. 'When the tranquilliser darts didn't work we tried symbiote poison darts instead that Ren'al prepared as a contingency plan, even that took a while to kill it and in the meantime we lost a lot of good men and women' he said mournfully. 'Orac bastards are harder to kill than anything I've ever seen or heard of' he growled.

'We've had some luck using Sectoid Plasma Weapons' Hammond told him.

Jacob forced a smile. 'A Tok'ra agent took one down by emptying nearly a full clip from a Plasma Pistol into its back at point-blank range' he announced. 'I don't know who was more surprised, our guy or the Kull' he continued in amusement, it was a nice mental image.

'It takes several concentrated bursts even with a Heavy Plasma Rifle I'm told' Hammond responded, 'one of Sharp's squads took out a pair of them on P3X-984' he said. Elerium based plasma weapons were as much a particle beam fired at relativistic speeds as they were directed-energy, even Kull armour couldn't stand up to it indefinitely.

'Nice work' Jacob said, raising his glass in salute.

'After how much trouble they had with the first they actually used a small nuclear device to take out the second' Hammond told him, before laughing.

Jacob Carter chuckled himself. 'If in doubt fall back on massive overkill' he declared, raising his glass in salute again before downing the remaining contents in one gulp.

'Anubis is following the trail we blazed you know' Hammond observed, 'he hasn't got a fleet that can take on his rivals in space yet so he's fighting them on the ground instead using better weaponry and tactics' he said.

'After he's finished with his old enemy Lord Yu, and beaten up on a few of the small-fry to make an example of them, he'll start picking off the remaining System Lords' Jacob reasoned. 'He might forge a few alliances with those he can easily dominate to speed up the process but I doubt we'll see anyone powerful ally with him because the last time he did that they stabbed him in the back as soon as Apophis was gone.'

'Our analysts think he'll attack Baal last' Hammond told him.

'Selmak agrees and so do I' Jacob responded. 'Baal still has enough fleet assets to protect all his most important worlds' he noted, 'Kull and souped-up Deathgliders aren't a match for several Ha'tak in orbit' he said, capital ship staff-cannon blasts falling from above weren't to be taken lightly. 'The other Goa'uld don't have the ability to defend more than a handful of their systems properly, leaving the way open for Anubis to send in no more than a single Ha'tak and maybe a few supporting Al'kesh and Troop Transports as a viable invasion force in most circumstances.'

Hammond checked his watch. 'I think we need to get to the briefing room' he said, getting up.

'Selmak would be happier about that if we didn't know that Nirrti was going to be there' Jacob replied, rising himself. 'You should have let us remove her from the host ages ago' he said.

'Unlike the other goa'uld we captured Nirrti is still useful even after we obtained all the intelligence she could provide' Hammond responded, 'she's an evil bitch but she's our evil bitch' he remarked.

Nirrti was already answering questions from the other Carter currently in the SGC complex when Hammond and Jacob arrived. Major Samantha Carter personally despised the rogue System Lord as well but her scientific skills were undoubted and her work on the Kull was invaluable.

For his part Colonel O'Neill was more interested in reading the latest results of tests on the Kull armour and weapons than he was hearing about the the biological component inside the suit. He was leafing through the latest analysis from the team at Area 51 testing the Plasma Repeater whilst Teal'c sat to his left fixed Nirrti with an ever-suspicious glare.

The Kull weapon now widely known as a "Plasma Repeater" fired a much smaller bolt than the Staff-Weapon but it did so at considerably greater velocity and the energy density of the plasma was notably higher too. It had superior penetration, if not stopping power per shot, than the standard Jaffa weapon but its major advantage was its rate-of-fire. The Repeater could only fire in bursts rather than continually, it had safety cut-outs to prevent the overheating bench tests indicated it was prone to, but it still nonetheless vastly eclipsed any other goa'uld weapon in terms of capability and the sheer volume of fire, range, relative accuracy and its ability to pierce armour it offered had X-COM both drooling at the thought of copying it and bemoaning the need to protect against it.

General Hammond and Jacob narrowly beat Daniel Jackson who dashed in carrying a number of books and journals which he dumped on the briefing table before selecting one in particular. 'I think that's everyone' Nirrti said. 'Let's get on with this so I can get back to my cell before the Sopranos starts' she said.

Nirrti waited until everyone was sat down before beginning. 'My analysis of the Kull revealed a distinctive and unique energy signature within its cells' she began. 'It's a match for the residual side-effects of sarcophagus use or intense use of a Healing Device' she said.

Selmak spoke up, the voice used it wasn't the host Jacob that was speaking. 'Our examination of Kull remains indicated the same' the Tok'ra commented.

'Presumably you also found that the creature was not technically alive in the conventional sense of the word until it was grown into its mature state?' Nirrti queried.

'Yes, and it was extremely perplexing' Selmak confirmed.

'For me too until I realised that it must have been energised by an Ancient device, most likely the one that the sarcophagus was originally based upon' Nirrti said. 'For those not familiar with the story thousands of years ago a goa'uld scientist named Telchak found a piece of technology with immense healing abilities' she said. 'It was in fact far too powerful to use with human hosts but Telchak managed to create the original sarcophagus based upon his partial understanding of the device.'

'The Tok'ra have long sought this device in the hope of using it to perfect the sarcophagus technology, so that we could all benefit from it' Selmak interjected.

'So basically the sarcophagus is just another inferior copy of Ancient tech' O'Neill observed. 'Why am I not surprised?' he asked sarcastically.

Nirrti ignored the slight to her race. 'Doctor Jackson' she prompted.

Daniel had been reading his notes. 'Ah yes' he said looking up, 'when Nirrti first mentioned Telchak and the healing device it reminded me of a theory of my grandfather Nicolas Ballard regarding the Mayan God Chac and the legend of the Fountain of Youth' he said. 'According to goa'uld history Anubis went to war with Telchak trying to take the device but although he won the war Anubis never found it, it was believed to be hidden in one of Telchaks temples.'

'What good does knowing this do us?' O'Neill queried.

'Well if we can find the device Nirrti thinks it might be possible to use the thing to develop a means to counteract the energy used to bring the Kull to life' Daniel replied.

'And if I'm right I expect better living conditions, some servants and a decent lab assistant who also knows how to make an adequate cup of tea' Nirrti insisted. 'I am poorly appreciated in my work' she complained bitterly.

Everyone ignored the goa'uld who scowled in response. 'Anubis probably learned how to make one of the devices himself when he was ascended so he never needed Telchaks' Daniel reasoned.

'This all seems a little sketchy Daniel' O'Neill told him.

'I thought so too until I showed Nirrti this journal that belonged to my grandfather' Daniel replied, pushing the book under Selmaks's face.

'These illustrations show writing in an obscure goa'uld dialect' Selmak said in surprise.

'Yes they do' Nirrti agreed. 'Okay, if the servants aren't on the cards I'll settle for a new forty-two inch plasma screen TV but the lab assistant is _not_ negotiable' she insisted.

* * *

**Ruins of Vis Uban – P4T-3G6 – November 2003**

UNHCR was already likely to put in a serious complaint about the way in which X-COM Troopers had forcibly relocated the people who had been living in the dilapidated remains of the Ancient city but Russell Sharp was sure that when UNESCO found out about what he was about to do they'd want his balls on a plate. Daniel Jackson and the rest of the archaeologists working within the stargate program might never speak to him again either Sharp decided as he squeezed the detonator in his hand triggering a series of C4 demolition charges.

The three Kull Warriors which had been heading down a narrow street towards the centre of town couldn't help but notice the explosions but they couldn't do much more than watch as a large section of wall collapsed on them, granite blocks weighing up to two tonnes apiece raining down and crushing them.

'Well that had to hurt' Sharp declared, laughing as he dropped the remote detonator and picked up his Heavy Plasma Rifle. 'Well we laid out the welcome mat and invited them in so now it's time to make sure our guests never forget their visit to this lovely tourist destination' he told the nearby troops. 'Not a single damn one of them gets out of here alive unless it's heading to Alien Containment' he ordered.

The sound of Kull Plasma Repeaters and X-COM weaponry broke out in the distance, the gunfire echoing off the stonework as the dust from the C4 explosions finally started to settle. 'Okay boys and girls, you know the job. Let's head for the sound of the guns' Commander Sharp declared. 'Last one out of a sarcophagus buys the beer' he joked, grinning as he led his troops to support the team dug in to the North that was clearly engaging more of the Anubis Super-Soldiers.

They didn't have nearly enough powered armour to equip every Trooper and in a close-up fight like this one was going to be, a vicious series of ambushes and short, sharp engagements you were probably better off fighting light anyway. Better to hear the Kull stomping around first than for them to hear you.

Both Tok'ra agents and the Tau'ri's own network of spies and informers that had spread throughout much of the galaxy had reported the Reconnaissance Probes belonging to Anubis investigating sites that had once held Ancient outposts. It was thought extremely likely that Anubis was scouting for yet more useful relics he might be able to find and apply to his war effort, using his new toys for the task, and this had been deemed to offer an opportunity to spring a trap.

It was considered only a matter of time until the ruins of Vis Uban, the last city built by the Ancients in the galaxy, were visited by Anubis and it was also the case that the city itself offered a suitable battleground which could be turned into a death-trap for the Kull. When a probe did finally show up through the stargate it was allowed to progress most of the way towards the city and come upon what appeared to be a major archaeological dig being carried out by the Tau'ri before it was destroyed. The bait set, with Anubis now fooled into thinking that the humans must have found something worth having, it was only a couple of hours before the black-armoured super-soldiers started to arrive in force, along with a number of what had been nicknamed Kull Mini-Tanks in support.

Before the enemy arrived the ground had to be cleared of non-combatants but unfortunately the elder of the tribe who had been living in the ruins was reluctant to go to the point of outright refusal. After failing to persuade him Sharp eventually announced that they could either move of their own accord or he would have them shot with zat'nik'tels and carried to the gate for evacuation. They still wouldn't go, thinking he was bluffing, so to the dismay of the UNHCR team who Sharp had bought along to look after them he did exactly as he had promised. He only had to make an example of a handful before the rest complied, cursing his name.

When fighting as a group the Kull adopted very familiar and quite effective small-unit-tactics. They didn't fight like Jaffa, instead they fought much like Loki's creations with some skill and clear adaptability to new situations. They had counted some thirty Kull Warriors and five Mini-Tanks coming through the gate, the warriors splitting into groups of three and their armour support waiting outside the ruins, both screening the approach to the gate and ready to follow in the infantry if heavier firepower was required.

With the equivalent of a company lying in wait for the supersoldiers the humans had a decent numerical advantage and although their armour was nothing compared to that of the super-soldiers the X-COM Troopers trusted in their Heavy Plasma Rifles to bring down the foe. Whilst the Kull had easily carved a swathe of death and destruction through the ranks of the System Lords, and indeed they had also soundly beaten the better trained and equipped Free Jaffa/Tok'ra forces in the field in almost every engagement where they faced off, the Tau'ri had not proven so obliging. Loki had warned Anubis not to underestimate X-COM but for all his advanced technology the partially-ascended goa'uld was still as arrogant and over-confident as most of his race and he had ignored the rogue Asgard, a decision that was proving costly.

The Tau'ri fought dirty, they engaged in hit and run tactics against the Kull and would use ambushes and ruses to deal with them. Supersoldiers found themselves falling into hidden pits dug in trails, stepping on anti-tank mines and in one case a Kull was lured into a particular spot and was caught by a ring transporter that engaged and deposited him in the cargo bay of a cloaked Tel'tak, the air promptly being pumped out until it fell unconscious.

Mind-probing of Kull captured alive showed that the world they originated from was Tartarus, a planet deep inside territory belonging to Anubis. At first it was hoped a commando raid or even a through-gate nuclear strike could be launched against the facility but the stargate there was not only shielded, Loki had also insisted upon additional security measures being put in place including Jaffa equipped with Mind Probes to screen any arrivals and an Asgard beaming device, this being much like the one on Cimmeria which would simply sweep away intruders.

To the great annoyance of X-COM both the Asgard and the Tollan showed an unwillingness to launch a large-scale attack on the Tartarus System despite the very real possibility that Loki was holed-up there. They still wished to avoid a conflict with the goa'uld which could rapidly escalate given the currently chaotic nature of galactic politics and alliances. An already very effective network of sensors set up in the system by Anubis had been improved by the addition of Loki's latest scanning technology so even a strike using cloaked ships belong to the Tau'ri or Tok'ra themselves was considered unfeasible. Attempts to push the other System Lords, Baal in particular, into sending their fleets against Tartarus came to nought after an abortive attempt by Lord Yu to do that very thing himself ended in abject failure with the remaining Ha'tak belonging to Anubis plus upgraded Al'kesh, Deathgliders and Loki's own fighters devastated Yu's fleet almost as soon as they arrived.

As Sharp lined up his P3A1 Heavy Plasma Rifle and fired a short burst of fire into a super-soldier, the bolts so destructive than even the Kull armour was quickly shredded, he received word via his radio headset that a pair of X-COM Hovertanks coming through the gate were now engaging their enemy equivalents. Automated machines of war were fighting for ownership of the way to and from the planet whilst the flesh and blood soldiers determined who was going to enter the event horizon again alive.

The Kull had learned to alternate fire between their two Plasma-Repeaters so that they could maintain a constant stream of fire despite the limitations of their weapons. In open combat this made them an absolute bitch to deal with as they advanced firing on the move, never giving their enemy a fair chance to shoot back, pinning them down. Within the ruins of Vis Uban however they often did not see the opposition until they had already entered an established field of fire and several Kull were shot down by multiple P3A1's before they ever had a chance to return fire.

X-COM troopers were going down too but attrition was working against the Kull and the deeper they pushed into the city the more opportunities there were for the Tau'ri to use their superior knowledge of the layout of the buildings to get behind the outnumbered supersoldiers and shoot them in the ass. Maps of Vis Uban drawn up by survey teams sent there shortly after the discovery of Daniel Jackson there were a gift to Sharp and he had planned a combination fighting retreat and series of ambushes that would chew up the Kull and spit them out.

The Kull had adapted to a degree however. After previous skirmishes they had learned to finish the Tau'ri off where possible, making sure to always shoot fallen human soldiers in the head before moving on. The sarcophagus simply couldn't repair that kind of damage, once your brains were blown out you were gone for good, so the number of _permanent_ KIA's had risen sharply in the last few weeks. Quickly replacing lost hardware was simply a matter of money and materiel whereas an experienced soldier gone forever was robbing the Tau'ri of a resource that could not be replaced any time soon. The years of war with the sectoids had produced a large pool of extremely competent troopers but it was being drained now and not refilled and in the longer term this would inevitably lead to a drop-off in battlefield efficiency. No training, not even the intensive courses X-COM operated using Intars for pseudo live-fire exercises could make up for actual combat experience as yet and every hardened veteran who had a plasma bolt put through his helmet meant the Tau'ri were just a little less horrific a prospect to face in the field.

Sharp ejected an empty magazine for his rifle and loaded another 35 round clip. It took a ludicrous number of hits to take down a Kull, you could take out a tank with less effort, but at least the damn things died eventually he thought with relief as he looked at the smoking corpses of a trio of super-soldiers who had tried to force their way through the latest defence line. 'Pull back a hundred metres and get ready for the next wave' he ordered. The Kull were relentless which made them frightening but it also made them a tad too predictable in some ways, they never suffered from morale problems and obeyed their orders to the letter so you could usually safely assume they were going to keep attacking until they were all dead. They weren't very smart either, Anubis had prized unwavering obedience over initiative making them psychologically more akin to the ideal Jaffa than what the Tau'ri would consider the ideal soldier.

'Private Bailey is down Sir' a trooper called back. 'He's dead.'

'Drag him with us unless he took a head-shot' Sharp replied, 'make sure to hand out his remaining ammo' he added.

Supposedly the Ancient gizmo Doctor Jackson had found in Honduras was the answer to the Kull, or at least it would be eventually if a technology based upon it could be weaponised, but Sharp would believe it when he saw it. Fancy science tricks had their place but you could always rely on the reliability of the brute force approach. It was a pity he hadn't been there when the anti-government rebels who captured Jackson and carried him over the border into Nicaragua looked up and found an Avenger hovering over their camp. That must have been hilarious, Sharp thought, especially when a squad wearing Powered Armour descended upon them zatting everything in sight. The zombie rebel now gracing the Area 51 Alien Containment block might be worth a look too for that matter he decided as he helped move Bailey's corpse.

It was now theorised that the Ancient Device might actually be the reason Loki's ships had spent so much time scouting around Central America a while back. With his interest in both creating new soldier species, and saving his own race from eventual extinction, such a valuable piece of medical technology would be a huge prize for him. As it was it now belonged to humanity and after it was used to try and make anti-Kull weapons it would likely be studied by researchers seeking to not only perfect the goa'uld sarcophagus, removing the nasty tendency to turn you evil with too much exposure, but also to develop an equivalent to the hand-held healing device that didn't need naquadah in the blood and had a simple on/off switch and a dial setting, not mental control that required months of training and practice to use.

After the last enemy fell Sharp ordered the usual retrieval of the enemy bodies and equipment, plus their own casualties, before heading back to the Omega Site. Let Anubis have Vis Uban and waste as much time searching through the ruins as the humans had, they weren't fighting to contest ownership of the place X-COM just wanted to bleed the super-soldiers a little, deplete their numbers and prevent them applying force where it really mattered for another day.

The battle of Vis Uban was a victory for Earth against Anubis but the very same day he won other battles on half a dozen other worlds extending his domain at the cost of the realms of lesser goa'uld. Jaffa belonging to the armies of the defeated were given a choice to join him or die and his numbers of warriors swelled as a result, the newly absorbed Jaffa acting as garrison troops for his expanding empire whilst the Kull did the hard work of conquering the next wave.

Enhanced by Asgard construction techniques the shipyards belonging to Anubis were increasing their production rates every day also. Moreover Loki had provided the plans for hyperdrive modifications that produced performance that not only exceeded anything Apophis had built, and Baal was currently building, they were more compact and didn't require a large input of expensive and hard to find trinium in their manufacture simplifying logistics.

Loki wasn't interested in the politics, he was himself devoting more and more of his time into perfecting the sectoid form into one that could completely replace the weak and sickly Asgard clones. Everything Loki did was for the good of his race and he was confident one day they would realise it and hail him as the hero who both saved the Asgard and gave them the same opportunity to ascend to the next plane as other peoples had.

The latest creature he had originally developed using Langaran DNA, and was now perfected using the Ancient DNA Re-Sequencer given to him by Anubis, was very promising. Psionically it was far stronger than anything he had managed to produce before and was also extremely intelligent and skilled at command. One of them could lead a squadron of better pilots increasing their effectiveness still further overall and attacking the minds of the enemy pilots during the fight. The humans would name them Psilords, the Jaffa regarded them as abominations, Anubis thought they were great.

* * *

_**Note from the Author:**_

_The Kull Warrior appears, this time with some enhancements courtesy of Loki and the technology used in his own supersoldiers, the cybernetically enhanced Mutons. __The Kull's boosted internal organs would wear out very quickly, the one that Teal'c and Bra'tac initially thought they killed in episode 7:11 Evolution had in fact suffered a cardiac arrest. Kull Armour seemed immune to Staff-Weapons, Zat'nik'tel fire and indeed other energy weapons and withstood projectile weapons and explosives very effectively too. Here the X-COM Laser Rifles prove equally useless but running the Kull over with fifty tonnes of armour-plated Hovertank moving at over a hundred miles an hour worked a treat if a drastic solution. __XSGCOM utilising the Alien Examination and Alien Surgery technology taken from UFO's is a given. Nirrti has gradually become their (unwilling) expert on aliens thanks to many dissections and vivisections so her being bought in to take the role that the Tok'ra Selmak (Jacob Carter) took in the show when the Kull was examined is likely. __Doctor Carson Beckett was already involved the Stargate program well before Atlantis, he was the one that found the ATA gene, so since the Omega Site would need a base physician it's him (for the want of my bothering to invent a new character myself). __The Prometheus visited Euronda during it's grand tour. Given that the victorious "Breeder" faction were living on a poisoned world having them more than willing to trade technology for aid and assistance is logical. The Eurondans had stasis chambers which are a convenient place to store casualties until there is a sarcophagus (or rather an X-COM copy of one) available to heal them._

_The Reconnaisance Probe used by Anubis mounted a Plasma Repeater and had a shield. Combining that with a Sectoid Cyberdisc mini-tank and adding a little more firepower (a Staff-Cannon and an extra Repeater) you get a nasty little package to support the Kull in battle. __The new Anubis Deathglider has a Tel'tak shield (as also used on the Chappa'nok'kek) and twin Plasma-Repeater-Cannon (just scaled up versions of the Kull weapon). It's now a much more effective fighter both in ground-support and air-superiority roles and it seems a logical development. __Heavy Plasma Rifles are incredibly powerful so I couldn't see even Kull armour being invulnerable to them but the fact it takes a few bursts from a weapon that can take out a Main Battle Tank to deal with a Kull indicates just how tough they are. The Blaster-Launcher and its micro-nukes are an easier way to deal with the Kull but not exactly a cheap one and there are severe limitations on when you could safely throw small nuclear warheads about! __The goa'uld sedative the Tok'ra tried to use to tranq a Kull was found in the canopic jar Osiris was trapped inside whereas the symbiote poison was invented by the Tok'ra Ren'al. Dart guns firing anti-alien toxins were a feature of the game X-COM: Apocalypse incidentally._

_We know that Anubis used to send his probes to worlds with Ancient Ruins, SG-13 ran into one on P3X-666 during episode 7:17 Heroes. Vis Uban was a major city built by the Ancients so I'm sure Anubis would want to poke around. __Loki adding an Asgard "Hammer" like the one Thor installed on Cimmeria is an easy way to deal with univited guests. Mind Probes prevent something like the far-to-easy infilitration of Tartarus by Jacob in episode 7:12 Evolution._

_One more chapter to go... and then the sequel will begin: **XSGCOM: Terra from the Deep **_


	52. Chapter 52

_I own neither Stargate nor the X-COM franchise. No infringement is intended, no profit is to be made and I'm just not worth the hassle of suing anyway unless you want a share of the wages of an underpaid Civil Servant._

* * *

**Kelownan Capital – Langara (P2S-4C3) – November 2003**

Rodney McKay stared at the drilling machine hanging in its cradle. 'This planet is like the golden age of science fiction come to life' he said eventually.

Jonas laughed. 'We get better results from our level of technology than you did on Earth' he noted.

'Assuming this actually thing works you do' McKay replied, turning to the local who was wearing an X-COM uniform with the addition of extra patches on the sleeves indicating he was from Langara and Kelowna. 'The powerplant is an Orbanian naquadah reactor right?' he asked.

'Two of them' Jonas corrected him. 'They provided us with about a hundred of the things as part of their aid package' he said. 'What we really need is some goa'uld and Earth tech to get her operational quickly' he continued, 'Tok'ra tunnel crystals would speed things up too' he added.

'There wouldn't have been any problem getting those for you even if it wasn't for the planet facing a global disaster' McKay told Jonas. 'We need more naquadria, we're running out fast' he said.

'If you'd made less into bombs Earth would have enough to make more AG-3X satellites' Jonas chided.

'That's pretty much what the Tollan said too' McKay noted. 'They were more condescending about it though' he continued. 'They've nearly used up the proportion of the naquadria stockpile that was intended for conversion to the allotrope we need for the AG-3X already.'

'For how many beam weapons?' Jonas queried.

'Six' McKay replied, 'and we'll have to use up one of them for testing if the things work at all' he reminded Jonas.

Jonas shrugged. 'According to the math it should' he replied. 'Of course according to the math they've also got about a thirty percent chance of exploding spectacularly every shot' he pointed out.

'Spectacular is one way to describe it' McKay replied. 'Personally I'd describe a litre of liquid naquadria going boom in stronger terms' he said.

'If all the naquadria under our feet goes up it'll make an AG-3X exploding look like a firecracker' Jonas told him. 'Kelowna will be destroyed and the rest of the planet will be an uninhabitable wasteland for millennia' he said.

'Better get this thing working then' McKay said, cracking his knuckles more for effect than anything. Evacuating the whole planet was the back-up plan one the Optricans had come up with it. A Maglev railway with carriages that could fit through the gate could transport a truly immense number of people in only thirty-eight minutes, the trains just had to be going at over five hundred miles an hour. As soon as the thirty-eight minutes were up and the wormhole closed the Optricans would dial Langara from their end and just send back the empty engines and carriages for the next batch of refugees.

The Tollan had delivered the additional stargates required and Optrican engineers were now constructing the Maglev lines, one stretch at the Langaran side and the other on a plain on their own homeworld around which they were constructing temporary shelters The Optricans would be diverting their entire railstock towards the project which meant an awful lot of people walking to work for a while but given the alternative was the death of hundreds of millions of people there wasn't much of a public outcry.

Other worlds had agreed to take some of the Langarans once the evacuation was complete, Optrica couldn't possibly look after them all, but hopes were still very much pinned on it being unnecessary because nobody really wanted millions of destitute Kelownans, Tirranians and Andari dumped on them. The Nox and Tollan had agreed to take the most since they had low populations, plenty of free land and a high enough technology base to cope. Since getting them to the Ida galaxy was a lot trickier, the power-requirements for intergalactic gate travel was too excessive, the Asgard couldn't do the same but they did offer material assistance to other worlds helping in the effort.

It would be fair to say that the Langarans would have much rather found out how naquadria was produced in a somewhat smaller scale experiment. Test-detonations of naquadria bombs on the planets surface by each of the three powers shortly before the Sectoid invasion had caused a self-perpetuating nuclear reaction that was now converting naquadah deposits deep underground into the naquadria isotope at an alarming rate of progression. Geological surveys and scans by the Asgard showed that as soon as a now known vein of naquadah deep underground was converted into it's far less stable form the heat and pressure would cause it to explode. Estimates of the yield had the Tollan muttering about what happened to Serita which wasn't exactly something anybody wanted to hear.

Fortunately the Kelownans had already developed the means to prevent the catastrophe, although they had originally intended it for a different purpose entirely, looking for new deposits of precious naquadria rather than trying to stop naquadria blowing their nation all to hell. The "Deep Underground Excavation Vehicle" had taken them two and half years to build and at the cost of over half the countries R&D budget, it wasn't ready yet but with the addition of some alien technology, and enough extra funds and personnel, it should be possible to get it operational and on its way very quickly they hoped. The DUEV would burrow its way ahead of the creeping conversion process and detonate an Earth supplied nuclear weapon to prevent it going any deeper. A few minor earthquakes had already resulted from small deposits going critical underground but if the big one could be averted then the evacuation of Langara wouldn't be necessary.

The goa'uld Thanos who had once owned Langara and first discovered naquadria had blown himself and a fair chunk of the planet to atoms by underestimating its instability thousands of years before. A data crystal belonging to him found near the site where the stargate was discovered had filled in a few of the blanks in the theoretical understanding how the process worked, the naquada to naquadria reaction itself produced sub-atomic particles that worked like muons did in catalysing deuterium/tritium fusion, but it wasn't much help in practical terms.

Naquadria eventually decayed back into regular naquada, in another ten thousand years there wouldn't have been any left on Langara if it hadn't been for the Kelownans triggering another explosion of the stuff, but as it was there was now a large mass of the material underground and assuming it didn't all explode then the three Langara governments planned to use it to re-build their economies. All the other planetary powers wanted naquadria either for experimentation or weaponry and the Langarans were willing to sell. If the AG-3X satellites worked then everyone would be clamouring for liquid naquadria to power them so Langara had a nice market opportunity right there, not even the Tollan who had perfected the production of the required allotrope objected too harshly to the sale of advanced _defensive_ weaponry to less developed worlds than themselves these days.

The people of Langara were tired of being thought of as a charity case. Their off-world allies had first helped them to drive off Loki and then provided aid to rebuild their infrastructure and now they were helping again. Other than naquadria the one thing that Langara had that was unique was their people so that is what they were going to offer as well they had decided. The few survivors of what had been their equivalent of X-COM, plus other elite soldiers who had fought in the war and lived through to the other side, had all now been tested for psionic strength and skill and the very best of them had been asked to volunteer to serve alongside the Tau'ri military, most doing so willingly believing that it was both the best way to serve their own people. After the current crisis was over one way or the other they would transfer to Earth to undergo X-COM military training and would then be assigned to the Omega Site and attachment to combat teams. If they proved as useful as Jonas Quinn had to SG-1 then X-COM was happy to have them, moreover the Kelownan, Andari and Tirannian armies had put up a fight against Loki's forces that proved how stubborn and courageous they could be. Outgunned and technologically outclassed they had taken horrific losses and still held the line until the better equipped Optricans and Earthers could arrive and turn the tide of battle, you couldn't have asked any more of any military than what they gave, they died but they refused to be defeated.

Rodney McKay finished looking over the DUEV and then checked the blueprints. 'We can do this' he said confidently, 'I've no idea how you managed to get this far using goddamn _valves_ for your electronics and without Computer Aided Design' he said, 'but we can do this' he said again. 'I'll need a few people from back home I've worked with before, Radek Zelenka for one but don't tell the guy I rate him' he continued, 'he's got a bit of an ego' he said, looking at the blueprints again intently.

'We've assigned you an assistant from our own personnel' Jonas told McKay, spotting someone approaching.

McKay snorted, still looking at the blueprints as he traced a power-coupling. 'I know you pick things up fast' he said, 'but you people are a few decades behind where you need to be in order to get this done quickly' he opined. 'He'll just get in my way.'

'I'm a she actually' a woman responded.

Even worse, McKay thought to himself looking up, or maybe not he decided changing his mind instantly when he saw her. 'Rodney McKay' he introduced himself, holding out a hand as he tried to look suave. 'Earth's foremost expert on alien technology' he declared.

Jonas wasn't of the opinion McKay had assessed himself right there but to be fair he probably made the top three at least. 'Doctor McKay may I introduce Kianna Cyr, one of our brightest and best' he said.

'It's a pleasure to meet you' Kianna told McKay with a smile.

Oh the pleasure is all mine, McKay thought to himself happily. Hot, apparently smart and with short blond hair, she was _exactly_ his type and sure to be impressed by his awesome physics skills. 'Likewise' he replied, smiling back. This was already looking like it might overtake the Hebridan thing as the best job he had ever, if he saved the world maybe he could get the grateful girl too he hoped.

'Like myself Kianna was recruited straight out of university, even by our standards she's a quick learner' Jonas told McKay.

That probably put her IQ approaching two hundred, McKay realised, if it wasn't for all the radiation he'd absorbed over the years he might consider breeding, he thought, trying to look like he wasn't checking her out as blatantly as he was. 'How familiar are you with the DUEV?' he asked her.

'Very' Kianna replied, 'although to be honest I wanted to get into the naquadria bomb project instead' she admitted.

'Like blowing things up do you?' McKay joked.

'It's where all the very best physicists were assigned, I wanted to learn from the best' Kianna told him.

'In that case you were better off staying on this project after all' McKay told her, 'lucky you' he said.

'I'm going to get some coffee' Jonas said, 'if you can write up the other personnel you want I'll have it sent to Earth immediately' he told McKay.

'Coffee sounds good, I'll come with you' McKay replied.

'I've tried it, Jonas made me some, didn't like it' Kianna remarked, following them.

McKay smiled. 'If I didn't get my caffeine fix I'd go crazy' he said, don't blow this Rodney he told himself, to thine own self be true might be honest but it doesn't get you laid.

'I used to keep running out but then I asked Sergeant Siler to send through a couple of jars every time they gate someone from Earth' Jonas said, it was nice being back home but life without coffeee was intolerable.

'I'm a genius' McKay suddenly announced, 'or a complete idiot for not thinking of this before' he added.

'Sorry Doctor?' Kianna queried in confusion.

'I was thinking about naquadria, and then the tunnelling machine made me think about wormholes being tunnels through space' McKay said. 'Then I thought about the sub-atomic particles that catalyse the conversion of naquada to naquadria and everything clicked.'

'Sorry, still not following you I'm afraid' Jonas told him.

'The AG-3X' McKay said, 'it fires a sub-atomic particle beam' he said.

'Powered by liquid naquadria' Jonas agreed.

'Right' McKay said, clicking his finger furiously. 'Okay so a few years back Sokar nearly burned through the iris of the SGC stargate by firing a sub-atomic particle beam at it, the gap between the event horizon and the metal shield is large enough for the particles to re-integrate' he said. 'You can't actually have something touching the event horizon so there's always a narrow gap for any iris' he continued, 'even if it was an energy shield' he declared.

'The shield that protects Tartarus' Jonas realised.

'We test-fire the AG-3X by firing it through a stargate at Tartarus' McKay exclaimed, 'it'll burn right through that shield Anubis has on it.'

'Aren't we talking the equivalent of nuclear yields focused as a beam?' Kianna queried, 'what would that do to whatever was on the other side of the shield?' she asked.

'Well I wouldn't want to be there to find out first-hand' McKay told her. 'All that energy has to go somewhere and any solid matter in the way would become expanding plasma instantly' he said. 'I need to get to the stargate' he told Jonas then grinned, 'You've got to love the symmetry here given that Anubis attacked Earth through the gate with a beam too once' he said.

'This has a little less finesse than when he did it' Jonas observed.

'His way gave us days to figure out a solution, brute force is quicker' McKay replied. 'Well I'll say one thing' he continued, smirking. 'If there's a Kull Warrior standing in front of the gate that armour isn't going to help him very much' he said in amusement at the very idea.

* * *

**USAF Prometheus – Abydos System – January 2004**

Russell Sharp looked at the Asgard platform placed in the vessels canteen dubiously. 'So I just stand on that thing and my hologram appears on the other side of the gate?' he checked.

'Right' Carter confirmed. 'We'll have to give it back once we're finished with it unfortunately we just borrowed it' she said regretfully. 'Our own holographic projection technology based on a back-engineered goa'uld vo'cume device is far less sophisticated' she told him.

'And it'll work through the stargate and the shield on the other side?' Sharp asked.

Carter nodded. 'Anubis has used an asgard holographic projector to generate an image of himself through an open wormhole himself before, and we know that the same technology also works through his advanced shields even though the Asgard can't beam through them' she replied. 'As soon as we fire up the stargate floating out there and connect to Tartarus you can step on the pedestal and from your perspective you'll be standing in front of the gate there' she told him.

'Do I look alright?' Sharp asked.

Major Carter couldn't help but laugh. 'You look very nice for your date Sir' she told him.

'Just because you're no longer under my command that doesn't give you a license to say anything you like to a higher ranking officer Major' Sharp told her curtly. 'I think you've spent too much time with Colonel O'Neill' he added disparagingly.

'Sorry Sir' Carter responded. 'You look suitably X-COM' she told him.

'Good' Sharp replied. He was wearing the standard-issue grey jumpsuit with a brand-new cydonium/trinium alloy breastplate painted matt black covering his torso and had on a black beret with a trinium X-COM badge pinned to it. His rank insignia, a stylised skull and X motif were on his collar that just cleared the armour at his neck and he had XSGCOM patches on the upper arms of his jumpsuit above more rank insignia. The goa'uld appreciated a good show, look at how they dressed themselves and the uniforms they put the Jaffa in, so it might have been worth washing out all the bloodstains in his clothes, pressing them and making his boots shiny for once he decided, looking down at them.

The custom-made trinium-handled plasma pistol holstered on his belt had a new counter-weight on the other side. It looked like a metal side-handled baton, which it was, but it also had both a built-in stun-rod with electrodes that could be deployed and more unpleasantly it additionally housed a copy of the goa'uld pain-stick. The things were intended to be made standard issue eventually but given his seniority, and the fact he was known to be enough of a bastard to try it out on someone, Commander Sharp had been given a pre-production version for field testing. Although the Tau'ri much preferred to fight at long range the Jaffa habit of seeking close-combat meant that it couldn't always be avoided every time and the modified baton should help in that eventuality it was hoped. If nothing else the damn thing could be used for the occasional quick interrogation at least.

Sharp turned and looked out at the stargate hanging there in space with the oddly shaped block directly in front of it. Once the Tollan built gate was remotely dialled the _Prometheus_ would slowly back away and he would stand on the platform, they didn't want to be anywhere near the AG-3X when it was activated.

The star system where Abydos used to reside was close to Earth which made it convenient to get to. Moreover there was no prospect of collateral damage in the now lifeless system and considering Anubis had killed it the weapon intended to kill him being fired from there was apt indeed. They could have simply dialled Tartarus and fired the AG-3X but if they could ensure Anubis was right there when it was unleashed, and maybe Loki too, that would be ideal.

Receiving the activation signal the stargate that _Prometheus_ had deployed began to dial Tartarus, not that the Tollan gates actually had moving parts, their technology was solid-state in the extreme. The chevrons lit up and the wormhole connected as the X-303 began to pull back using its manoeuvring thrusters.

'Should have kept up those acting lessons' Sharp told himself as he stepped up onto the platform and the Asgard device activated.

Sharp found himself standing looking at a door a few metres ahead with a Kull Warrior stood either side of it. 'Take me to your leader' he told them. 'No, I mean bring your leader here' he corrected himself.

The Kull raised their arms and started firing their Plasma-Repeaters. It took considerable willpower not to try and dive out of the way as the bolts started going through him but instead Sharp turned around to watch them pass through his holographic form and splash against the shield covering the stargate directly behind him. 'I'll just wait here until you get bored then shall I?' Sharp asked the two Kull nonchalantly, looking around more. O'Neill was right, Sharp decided, Anubis really _was_ a walking cliché he thought. His base was built into an active volcano like some Bond villain, the gate itself being on a platform set above a pool of molten lava below. The metal door ahead must lead into the main complex presumably.

'Look I can come back later if you'll take a message' Sharp told the Kull Warriors who were still shooting through him. 'Can I maybe talk to someone in authority?' he requested.

The Kull stopped firing put kept their arms raised to resume if necessary and the door slid open to reveal a man in the black clothes Anubis favoured in his minions. 'That is Asgard technology' the man stated, looking at the hologram. He was carrying a silver ball in one hand, likely a goa'uld long-range communication device.

'Yeah, Asgard hologram like you use, except we borrowed it and you stole it' Sharp replied.

'I am Thoth' the man announced, the door closing behind him.

'You're the goa'uld scientist that works for Anubis right?' Sharp queried. According to the Tok'ra intelligence briefings he had read Thoth was considered one of the smartest goa'uld around, his only professional rival was regarded as Nerus who worked for Baal, although for her part Nirrti considered them both extremely overrated.

'We all serve Anubis' Thoth responded, 'these with their strength' he continued, indicating the Kull, 'I with my mind' he said.

'Well _you_ might serve Anubis but the only way _I'll_ ever serve him is up for dinner for a hungry Unas' Sharp responded. 'But enough chit-chat I need to talk to your boss' he said.

'Who are you to demand audience with Lord Anubis?' Thoth replied with a sneer.

Sharp fixed the minor goa'uld with a stare. 'I am Commander Russell Sharp' he replied, 'Warlord of the Tau'ri' he declared.

Thoth's eyes widened indicating that all the psy-war-ops and propaganda stuff that Earth had been trying to spread had worked as intended. For some time now agents disguised as traders, or else wanderers through the gate network had been telling tall tales about the legendary Sharp of Canada, leader of the feared crossed-marked warriors of X-COM. Adding in the sheer number of Jaffa they had killed, and the amount of mayhem they had wrought throughout the galaxy, even the System Lords were wary of his reputation these days. 'I have heard of you also' Thoth admitted.

'Bet my rep is better' Sharp responded. 'Now I've established my credentials I don't talk to the monkey, fetch the organ grinder' he told Thoth.

The goa'uld looked confused. 'Is an organ grinder some kind of Tau'ri torture device' he queried.

'I mean go get Anubis I want to talk to him' Sharp told the underling, got to remember not to use cultural references he thought.

Thoth frowned. 'My Lord will not be summoned by a mere human' he said.

'Tell your master that the Tau'ri are willing to stop fighting the Kull and will give him a free hand if he cedes certain planets to us' Sharp told Thoth. 'As a sweetener we'll also sell out the Tok'ra and the Free Jaffa' he added.

'You are lying' Thoth replied, it was true that the Tau'ri and their advanced weapons had managed to kill more Kull warriors than everyone else put together, and they were proving a major thorn in the side of Anubis as he tried to crush the other System Lords, but welcome though their departure from the fighting would be he had to assume this was duplicity.

'I don't give a shit about the Tok'ra or the Free Jaffa' Sharp told him flatly. 'The Tok'ra would screw _us_ over, I'm just doing it to them first' he said. Another reason he had been chosen as well as his seniority was that the goa'uld would be more likely to believe _he_ was really that ruthless than they would certain other Tau'ri leaders.

That had the ring of truth about it, Thoth thought. The Tok'ra were backstabbing shol'va, traitors to their race. The Tau'ri were not stupid and would likely not trust them either, Tok'ra were infamous plotters and schemers after all, the goa'uld scientist knew. 'They are your allies' he noted.

'Earth doesn't have alliances it has interests' Sharp replied. 'If Anubis doesn't want to talk I'll go to Baal instead' he continued, 'with some of the technology we took from Loki in his hands Baal could kick your ass.'

'Baal's technology is primitive' Thoth blustered.

'Not as good as all the Ancient and Asgard tech you've got but he's still got a lot more ships and fighting Apophis all that time should have proven how much numbers matter' Sharp retorted.

Thoth looked at the communication device in his hand for a moment. 'Why did you not go to Baal first then?' he asked.

'Because he _does_ have more ships' Sharp replied. 'It'll be years before Anubis has a large enough fleet to conquer and then hold the galaxy, he doesn't have the industrial base' he said. 'If Baal comes out ahead we'll have to face him much sooner' he continued. 'Anubis will have to beat the other System Lords into submission before he tries to deal with us because he _can't_ attack Earth right now, it would leave his worlds undefended.'

'You think it would be difficult to conquer your world?' Thoth asked, laughing. 'You believe Anubis would require more than a fraction of his mighty fleet to do so?' he asked rhetorically.

'Ask Loki how many Ha'tak he thinks you'd need' Sharp replied evenly. 'This isn't Earth a few years ago when Apophis tried with two of them and might have pulled it off' he said. 'You can't absorb the losses we'd inflict, Baal could.'

The door opened again, this time it was Anubis himself. 'You hope that Baal and I will fight indefinitely whilst you live in peace' he said to Sharp, Thoth turning and bowing as he approached. 'You are deluded, the war will be over sooner than you think and after I am the undisputed Supreme System Lord I will raze your world' he said.

Sharp grinned. 'Nice of you to join us' he told Anubis. 'I don't suppose Loki is around too is he?' he asked.

'He is monitoring the conversation from orbit' Anubis replied. Loki preferred to remain on his own ship, the Ha'tak Anubis had given him in return for the Eyes, now lost forever.

Sharp inwardly sighed, it would have been too much to hope for. 'Someone on this side wants to talk to me, I'll be back in a second' he said, disappearing as he stepped off the platform.

'Fire' Sharp said with a distinctly evil grin as he found himself back on _Prometheus_, not that he had really ever left. Oh well, at least turning Anubis to ash made up for an otherwise horrible few weeks, the worst moment of which had been Henry Hayes being elected US President. Sharp didn't really have any particular issue with Hayes himself, the new Yank leader seemed pretty reasonable, but his running mate had been Robert Kinsey and having that slimy son-of-a-bitch one heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world was just horrifying.

Anubis and Thoth looked at each other. 'The Tau'ri are strange and rude' Thoth opined.

'I will have that human tortured to death and bought back to life in a sarcophagus again and again for centuries' Anubis stated before looking curiously at the shield over the stargate which seemed to now be glowing brighter and brighter.

Naquadria becomes more unstable the more power you try to get out of it and given this was a test-firing of an entirely new weapon it had been decided it should be ramped up relatively slowly just in case. Even at only a fraction of maximum power it was already stronger than an Elerium Plasma Beam however and it said a lot for the shield over the Tartarus stargate that it wasn't pierced immediately.

Anubis was on the verge of becoming concerned when both he and Thoth vanished in a flash of light that seemed to head upwards leaving the two Kull Warriors alone just before the particle beam cut through the shield and then carved a hole right through the base, turning anything in front of it to vapour as it seared away vast amounts of metal and rock.

Loki was sitting in his Asgard command chair on the pel'tak of his ship where once a more ornate but far less sophisticated goa'uld throne would have rested. 'I just received an urgent warning from my agent on Earth' he told Anubis and Thoth, the latter looking worried and confused. 'It seemed prudent to get you out of there before this happened' the rogue Asgard continued, a perfect holographic image of the Tartarus Base appearing before them. 'This is a live feed' he added as the image showed the facility being obliterated. The energy transfer of the beam to everything in front of it was as destructive in effect as a nuclear blast and the beam had ripped through the base easily, cutting a channel of destruction from one side to the other.

'No weapon the Tau'ri could make can penetrate my shield' Anubis declared.

'Assuming you _have_ eyes somewhere under the hood of that cloak you are ignoring the evidence from them' Loki replied sardonically. 'They most evidently do' he said, pointing at the hologram.

'The power requirements alone would be horrendous' Thoth stated.

'They have a new power source, an isotope of naquadah' Loki explained, 'it is apparently unstable but immensely powerful' he said. 'As well as this beam weapon they are manufacturing warheads of a destructive yield that dwarfs the combined firepower of a fleet of Ha'tak firing their main guns' he announced.

'You knew of this?' Anubis growled.

'My agent has infiltrated the political and military organisations of Earth' Loki replied, except X-COM unfortunately he thought to himself, damn paranoid humans and their captured mind-probes. 'I was told of unconfirmed rumours but put little credence upon them until recently' he said. 'The Tollan are involved somehow, perhaps in the processing of the isotope into the correct allotrope.'

'The Tollan?' Anubis repeated, that was more unwelcome news though compared to the loss of his precious Tartarus Base it paled to insignificance.

'Yes their isolationism appears to be increasingly a thing of the past' Loki observed. Anubis hadn't seemed too bothered when the Tollan were attacking _his_ facilities but now he was bothered by their veer away from neutrality the rogue Asgard thought in annoyance.

'We have lost our ability to make the Kull Warriors' Thoth stated dejectedly.

'I managed to transport away the Queen you were using to produce goa'uld for them, the manufacturing plant for the armour and some of the cloning facility' Loki told them. 'With my assistance you will be able to produce your foot soldiers again at another base soon but that is _not_ what you should be worried about' he said.

'With these weapons the Tau'ri will change the balance of power in the galaxy' Anubis said.

'Yes' Loki agreed. 'My agent tells me they only have a handful of satellite weapons with these beams defending Earth, and it will be perhaps half a year before they have many more, but eventually they will have so many that they will be able to defeat an attack by perhaps hundreds of motherships' he said. 'More than the goa'uld could afford to lose even collectively.'

'I will have to destroy them before that happens' Anubis realised, turning to Thoth. 'You will set up a new base for production of the Kull Warriors' he said. 'We will have to weaken Baal to the extent that he cannot take advantage of us when we attack the Tau'ri, I will re-direct all my forces against him.'

'It shall be done Lord' Thoth responded, bowing.

'I will assist your attacks on Baal with my new fighters and creations' Loki told Anubis. 'Then I will aid you in your assault on Earth' he continued. 'Baal's deathgliders will not prove a testing enough opponent to evaluate them properly' he added dispassionately.

Anubis went back to looking at the hologram of the Tartarus facility, the beam had eventually stopped but by the time it cut out the damage wrought made most of it unsalvageable. Damn the Tau'ri, he thought bitterly, a new headquarters just wouldn't be the same. Did they have no understanding of just how difficult it really was to build a base in a hollowed out volcano surrounded by liquid hot magma?

* * *

**Ancient Ruins – P3X-439 – March 2004**

'Do you people wear some kind of fucking aftershave that attracts trouble?' Colonel Rodrigues yelled at SG-1 as they tried to use the remains of the old city as cover. Receiving an urgent request for assistance the X-COM officer had arrived through the stargate only minutes before with three platoons of light infantry and another two in Powered Armour and now they were trying to secure a perimeter and hold back increasing numbers of hostiles.

'It's the Sergeants perfume' O'Neill replied, firing off the last few shots from his Heavy Plasma Rifle and ejecting the spent clip. Andianov herself was a few yards away lying prone behind a stone block, leaning out occasionally to snipe Jaffa at long range with the L2-A2 Laser Rifle she still preferred over the more powerful Heavy Plasma. Thanks to the addition of the Kull Disrupter unit Nirrti had designed, and eventually reduced in size to the point you could just clip one to another weapon, it was still effective against the black-armoured super-soldiers, albeit at shorter range than a P3-A1 could manage, but the Laser rifle was more accurate, wasn't overkill against Jaffa and you didn't have to reload.

So far they had seen enough troop transports setting down over the next rise to drop off at least two battalions of Jaffa with dozens of Kull Warriors in support and more seemed to be on the way. Anubis must want the site and its artefacts intact as well or he would have already begun orbital bombardment but even without that it wasn't currently Daniel Jackson's idea of a nice relaxed archaeological dig in a pleasant climate as it had been portrayed in the mission briefing.

'What's so damn important here anyway?' Rodrigues queried, popping up to take out three Jaffa in quick succession, he really was a hell of a good soldier O'Neill had to admit.

'SG-2 found some inscriptions that indicate there's an Ancient Repository of Knowledge in that Temple over there' Daniel told him, pointing.

'The one that looks like there's a huge guy with no head sitting down on it taking a dump?' Rodrigues asked.

'I think the Ancients intended it to look like a throne not a toilet but yes' Daniel confirmed. 'We were hoping to retrieve it but we can't let it fall into the hands of Anubis' he said seriously.

'No problem, I'll get one of my guys to nuke it and we'll go home' Rodrigues offered.

'It's a priceless artefact' Daniel protested.

'And once we've heated it to ten million degrees really fast it'll be a worthless one' O'Neill responded.

'INCOMING' someone yelled as a deathglider swooped past on a strafing run firing its Plasma-Repeater-Cannon it continued on and then began banking to make another pass when a stinger missile streaked up towards it, fired from the shoulder by one of the X-COM Troopers.

'Cover your eyes' Rodrigues yelled as the missile caught up with the deathglider and its proximity fuse detonated the naquada-enhanced warhead. It wasn't a particularly large yield by nuclear standards but it was still very bright and a little too much for the shield on the glider. It might have been able to stand the Staff-Cannon of other more conventional deathgliders but it wasn't strong enough for this treatment and the few remaining parts of the machine plummeted to Earth as the short-lived nuclear fireball faded.

'That'll learn 'em to keep away' O'Neill said with a grin.

'Many of the Jaffa seem blinded by the flash' Andianov called out.

'Darn convenient' Rodrigues opined as he and the other X-COM soldiers started gunning them down mercilessly.

'Jack we need to save the Repository' Daniel insisted.

'This may be the place for archaeology but this is not the time' O'Neill replied.

'If we can't save the device then...' Daniel paused. 'We'll have to save the knowledge' he declared.

'Nobody is putting their head in one of those damn things' O'Neill told him. 'Last time I started speaking another language and it almost killed me' he pointed out.

'And the Asgard saved you' Daniel pointed out. 'We've got Heimdall right there at Area 51, I'm willing to take the chance' he said.

'I'm not' O'Neill told him. 'We nuke the temple and get the hell out of Dodge' he said with finality.

Major Carter was reloading her own weapon. 'I hate to say this Sir but we might need that information' she said. 'Anubis and Loki are kicking Baal's ass and we've already seen other goa'uld starting to switch sides, with all that Ancient and Asgard tech on their side plus Loki's new toys they're playing in a whole new league to anything we've faced before.'

'Indeed' Teal'c agreed. 'It is said that even the Asgard Technician Hermiod expressed concern at the sophistication of the Type 3 Fighters we captured at Cydonia and the new Type 4 is seemingly even more advanced' he said. 'The Free Jaffa reported Ha'tak ships being downed by groups of them.'

'It's worth the risk' Daniel told O'Neill. 'Think of the Ancient weapon that Anubis used to destroy Abydos, if we could find the Lost City, obtain technology that powerful...'

'Shit' O'Neill swore, cutting him off. 'Alright I'm sold' he conceded the argument. 'But you're not sticking your head in that thing' he continued, 'you're the only one that could translate whatever it was the person that did was saying to everyone else' he noted.

'I will volunteer' Andianov interjected.

'Never ask anyone under your command to do something you wouldn't do yourself' O'Neill replied. 'Anyway we already know it works for me' he continued with a distinct groan to his voice. 'Heimdall had better be able to get it back out before I croak that's all I'm saying' he added.

'Whatever it is you're going to do, just do it fast because they're re-grouping' Rodrigues yelled. 'And they've got armour support' he noted as a Kull Mini-Tank appeared only to be struck and destroyed shortly afterwards by a Tau'ri elerium-powered mini-nuke.

'We're going for the temple' O'Neill told Rodrigues. 'SG-1 with me and move fast' he told his team.

Colonel Rodrigues set his headset radio to transmit on the command frequency. 'Cover fire on my order' he said, 'I want everyone going full-auto, I want the whole fucking area lit up green' he told his troops. 'This would be easier if we hadn't lost all those tanks on P3X-666 the last time someone found some fucking ruins' he complained. 'You ready?' he asked O'Neill.

'Do it' O'Neill confirmed, tensed and ready to run.

'COVER FIRE!' Rodrigues bellowed, holding down the trigger on his P3-A1 spraying bolts of bright green energised plasma towards the enemy. Even the Kull ducked out of the way, they had learned not to ignore those weapons like they did goa'uld ones, the greatest advantage they had was that their Plasma Repeaters would still be working long after the Tau'ri ran out of ammunition. Long engagements favoured the forces of Anubis these days.

SG-1 and most of the X-COM troopers eventually managed to get back to the stargate, Teal'c having to carry O'Neill who was now comatose after putting his head in the Ancient Repository of Knowledge. As soon as they were clear Rodrigues then had the structure blown to pieces with one of their last three tactical nuclear devices, using the other two to cover their retreat.

Colonel Rodrigues was the last one that arrived back at the SGC, the iris closing behind him and the sound of Staff-Weapons and Plasma-Repeater fire echoing off the trinium/titanium alloy shield increasing in intensity until the wormhole shut down. 'Take a final head-count' he ordered, 'how many did we lose?' he asked one of his Captains as Elizabeth Weir arrived in the gateroom looking suitably concerned at the state of Colonel O'Neill and the number of other casualties, several of the troopers bleeding from wounds and most having scorched armour at least.

'Jack downloaded the Repository into his head' Daniel told Weir.

'Again?' Weir asked in surprise.

'Tell me about it' O'Neill responded, shaking his head and becoming able to stand unaided.

'We didn't really think we had much choice in the circumstances' Carter told Weir as medical teams started to arrive to take care of the wounded.

'With your permission Ma'am I'd like to return my uninjured troopers to the Omega Site' Rodrigues interrupted, addressing Weir. 'We're probably already needed on another planet' he noted.

Weir looked at the X-COM soldiers. 'You can't be serious, you need to rest' she told him.

'Ten minute power-nap in a sarcophagus for those that haven't been in one for a while and some amphetamines for the rest of us and we'll be out there stomping goa'uld butt again within the hour' Rodrigues told her. 'I've been awake nearly forty-eight hours already myself and I'm feeling fine' he said brightly. 'Good for another day at least' he added.

'Send these soldiers back to Commander Sharp' Weir called up to the control room. 'Dial the Omega Site' she ordered, they weren't assigned to the SGC so they weren't her responsibility.

'So how are you enjoying command?' Rodrigues asked Weir with a smile.

'Apparently less than you do Colonel' Weir responded.

'Try the power-naps, I recommend them a lot' Rodrigues told her. 'Just don't oversleep or you'll end up thinking like a goa'uld' he advised. 'Although the lack on conscience might be a bonus from some perspectives I suppose' he suggested as the stargate started to spin up.

The new President had wanted a change in the SGC once he was told about it, and was persuaded it wasn't all a massive practical joke at his expense. Finding that he didn't have final authority on assigning a new base commander, thanks to it now being an international operation under the auspices of the UN Security Council and the International Oversight Advisory, he still wanted someone who was non-military in charge if possible and was soon pleased to discover that a person he knew well by reputation was an acceptable option to the other decision makers.

Despite a memo arriving on his desk from one Commander Russell Sharp to the effect that appointing Elizabeth Weir to command of the SGC would be followed shortly thereafter by the end of the world, President Henry Hayes ignored the hyperbolic missive and with the approval of the IOA he put her in charge of the Stargate Program. The military, the USAF in particular, was not happy at the removal of General Hammond but they obeyed orders and with the IOA considering Weir one of their own, and the UN wanting to play nice with the new President, Weirs transition was smooth, predictions of resultant Armageddon by a seething Canadian notwithstanding.

As expected O'Neill soon started to speak in Ancient as before, only it seemed like the process of the downloaded knowledge unzipping into his brain seemed to be occurring more rapidly this time, perhaps because his mind had been overwritten before. Although medically cleared to return home he agreed to being constantly monitored at the SGC which meant being followed everywhere but the bathroom by someone with a video camera, just in case he started building Ancient Tech again, and being frequently placed in a chair and being scanned with not only a Mind Probe but also a Psionic Amplifier.

Major Carter stood by the door with Doctor Frasier as Jonas Quinn tried to read O'Neill's mind. With the threatened disaster prevented by the DUEV and McKay's team of scientists and engineers, Langara was now mining its newly created wealth of naquadria and production of liquid naquadria for AG-3X satellites was getting back underway on the Tollan moon Deril. Jonas was now in charge of training new psionics on his homeworld but had been drafted for this job because he was the second most skilled psionic available after Cassandra Frasier and O'Neill really didn't want Cassie getting a look in his head. She was too young, too female and too much like one of the family to let her glimpse into his psyche in the Colonel's view, even the idea of Jonas picking up a few stray thoughts regarding Carter was bad enough but at least Jonas would keep his mouth shut.

'It's really jumbled in there' Jonas spoke up loudly. 'And half of it is in Ancient' he added with a frown before he raised his eyebrows and turned towards Major Carter. 'A cheerleader outfit?' he whispered to O'Neill, turning back towards him and leaning in 'you think?' he asked, trying not to smile any more than usual as the Colonel glared at him.

'Daniel says to note down any words you don't know' Carter called back. Jonas had a fair understanding of the Ancient language, it was a proto form of Latin which helped people get to grips with it, but Daniel was still the expert.

'I'll remember them' Jonas replied, he worked pretty well without notes. 'Hey maybe I should have been the one that stuck my head in that thing' he said. 'According to Heimdall and Nirrti my brain is physiologically more advanced so maybe it would cope better?' he suggested.

'Well thank you captain hindsight' O'Neill spoke up sarcastically. 'Sometimes I think I'm the only one around here who's not completely derentis' he muttered to himself.

'I think we should leave Captain Hindsight and his new sidekick in peace don't you?' Janet Frasier asked Carter.

'Maybe I need a cape?' Jonas asked O'Neill.

'Derentis' O'Neill muttered to himself again. 'I need to stretch my cozars' he told Jonas.

'Give me another five minutes' Jonas requested, adjusting the controls of his Psionic Amplifier as Doctor Frasier and Major Carter left.

Samantha walked with Janet towards her office. 'I saw Commander Sharp the day before yesterday' she told the doctor. 'The black eye you gave him is almost all faded away now' she said, trying and failing not to laugh.

'He deserved it' Janet replied, 'and he told me afterwards he knew he deserved it the moment the words left his mouth which is why he let me connect' she said.

'I'm surprised you let him off that light after "Whose is it" to be honest, I'm not sure I'd have forgiven him so easily' Sam remarked.

'I _haven't_ forgiven him' Janet replied, 'I'm just planning to make him pay for it forever' she said vengefully. 'To be fair it was probably a surprise and in normal circumstances he would have had cause to be suspicious' she admitted before hushing her voice so nobody else that might be passing could overhear. 'It never occurred to me that a sarcophagus might fix something that was deliberately broken that way' she said. 'If it reversed his vasectomy we might start seeing personnel who have their tonsils and appendix grow back too.'

'You're not showing yet' Sam noted.

'I'm already prohibited from off-world missions though' Janet replied.

'Not wearing the ring?' Sam queried.

'He spent three months salary on it because he heard that was expected' Janet replied, 'do you have any idea of what a sixty-thousand dollar engagement ring bought by a man with no taste in jewellery looks like?' she asked rhetorically. 'We're taking it back' she said.

'Too much bling?' Sam queried.

'It looks like it should be put on the end of a drill bit and used to find oil' Janet told her. 'Between that and the black eye it took a lot of the romance out of the proposal' she said. 'That plus the fact he was asking me to marry him because the bastard knocked me up' she continued. 'Never thought I'd regret all those safe-sex lectures I gave Cassie, she's making my life hell right now making cracks' she complained.

'Karma' Sam suggested.

'It's supposed to be negative karma that bites you on the ass though' Janet replied.

'Going to take his name?' Sam asked, 'you said before you weren't sure about it.'

'Oh he's fine with me keeping my name as long as our child has both' Janet told her. 'But I'm taking his' she added.

'Why?' Sam asked.

'Because unlike my fiancé, and boy does it feel weird saying _that_, I don't think that "Frasier-Sharp" would be just about the best last name ever' Janet replied, shaking her head sadly. The weirdest thing however was he was still an improvement on her first husband which might not say too much for her choice in men she decided.

For all of his faults several people, including the President of the United States, did however idly wonder if Russell Sharp was psychic when Master Bratac arrived through the stargate reporting that Anubis was massing his fleet for an attack on Earth. Most put it down to be a complete coincidence that Elizabeth Weir was now running the SGC however.

* * *

**The Whitehouse – Washington DC – March 2004**

General John Jumper the USAF Chief of Staff put down the telephone and turned to the President. 'Sir, under the terms of the 1998 Geneva Treaty, and with the approval of the UN Security Council, X-COM has ordered planetary military mobilisation' he announced. 'All UN Member Nations are requested to make ready their Armed Forces to resist imminent full-scale attack by an Extra-Terrestrial invader' he said. 'With your permission I'd like to get the missile silos prepared for launch and move to DEFCON 2' he requested.

'Do it' President Hayes replied.

'Thank you Sir' Jumper responded, 'X-COM have specifically asked for USAF _Prometheus_ to be placed under their authority and for USAF _Atlas_ to be launched from Area 51' he added.

'Is the _Atlas_ even ready for combat?' Hayes asked, turning to General Hammond who he had invited to the Oval Office. From the briefings he had received he thought the second BC-303 wasn't close to competition.

'Her hyperdrive isn't operational but her weapon systems and shields should function Sir' Hammond replied. 'As long as her sub-light engines can get her into orbit she'll make a fight of it' he declared. 'Colonel Prendergast her new CO is a good officer' he said.

'Tell X-COM yes on the 303's' Hayes told Jumper, 'both of them' he said. 'George you're the expert what can we expect?' he asked Hammond.

Hammond looked thoughtful. 'Estimates on how many motherships Anubis has vary between twenty and thirty but he probably has twice that number of troop ships and three or four times that number of Al'kesh bombers available to send against Earth' he replied. 'Each mothership can be expected to carry upwards of fifty deathgliders so our F-302 interceptors are going to be heavily outnumbered' he noted.

'But our aircraft are better right?' Hayes checked.

'Yes Sir, even with the upgrades he made to them our F-302X Grim Reapers are faster, tougher, better armed and more manoeuvrable than his deathgliders' Hammond confirmed. 'Our plan calls for Avengers to deal with the Al'kesh while the Reapers take out the gliders' he said. 'We'll make a hell of a fight of it Mr President.'

'It's the motherships we've got the problem with am I right?' Hayes asked with a sigh.

General Jumper had finished his telephone call and put down the phone. 'I'm afraid so Sir' he confirmed. '_Enterprise_ and _Kuznetsov_ can probably take on three or four Ha'tak between them and win, thanks to the Elerium Plasma Beams we added, but they'll get pounded to scrap in minutes if they try and take on a whole fleet' he said. 'With the new Fusion-Ball Launchers, the Rotary Staff-Cannon and their own Plasma Beams the _Prometheus_ and _Atlas_ will shred just about anything put in front of them but their shields can't take that kind of firepower either' he noted. '_Redemption_ and the two Al'kesh in our inventory are on their way to the Omega Site with most of our elerium stockpile and our arsenal of naquadria bombs' he said. 'If Earth falls X-COM has standing orders to unleash our strategic deterrent on the goa'uld, all the System Lords have been told.'

'Didn't that give Anubis pause for thought?' the President queried.

'Unfortunately Anubis cares even less about the fate of his followers than most goa'uld' Hammond told him. 'We did get a message from the First Prime of Lord Yu offering a post-war alliance against Baal however and requesting we don't attack any of Yu's worlds.'

'Is that a serious offer?' Hayes asked.

'It might be, Lord Yu has always played it straight with us in the past and his First Prime really runs things now anyway' Hammond replied.

President Hayes breathed out slowly. 'Have we heard from the Asgard yet?' he asked Hammond.

Hammond nodded. 'Yes, but its not good news' he replied. 'The Asgard believe that Anubis has persuaded other goa'uld to simultaneously attack additional planets that are included in the Protected Planets Treaty' he said. 'None of those worlds have any real defences of their own so if the Asgard don't send ships to protect them they'll likely be subjected to orbital bombardment almost as soon as the goa'uld arrive' he said. 'The Asgard have the most powerful warships we know of but they only have a handful and for all their technology they can't be in two places at once.'

'The Tollan?' Hayes asked.

'There was also a rumoured threat against Langara and the Tollan have dispatched two of their Cruisers to defend that world' Hammond told him. 'They don't have much of a navy either when you get right down to it, lots of quality not much quantity.'

President Hayes looked off towards the wall, as if staring into the distance. 'Then we're on our own' he said.

'Even with what we've got we're going to take out a _lot_ of motherships Mr President' Hammond told him. 'We've got a full forty ZapSats up there now with the second batch deployed, we've got three Tollan Heavy Ion Cannon operational and they're working around the clock trying to get the fourth one at the European X-COM facility in Poland completed right now.'

'Do those things even work for sure?' the President asked.

Hammond smiled. 'We've only ever test-fired the one at the Antarctica base for obvious reasons' he replied, that was why they put the first one to be constructed there of course, very few witnesses other than penguins. 'But if that one worked the others should Sir.'

'I'll choose to accept your optimism' Hayes replied evenly. 'What about the other satellites?' he asked.

'Our AG-3X orbital cannon are cloaked and positioned, just like the laser ZapSats Sir' Hammond told him. 'Of the five we have up there we estimate one, or if we're unlucky two, will fail just charging for the first shot but the rest will destroy or cripple any ship they're aiming at' he said. 'The chances of failure go up with each subsequent firing so how many Ha'tak they take out before they're all gone is up to the roll of the dice I'm afraid.'

'Big margin between the best and worse case scenarios' President Hayes observed.

'Yes Sir' Hammond replied. 'We also don't know how fast Anubis will be able to take out the Laser ZapSats' he continued, 'they're designed to fire as groups at the same target because individually they don't have anywhere near the firepower to bring down the shield of a mothership, if we're lucky they'll score big before they're all knocked out' he said.

The President moved over to his desk and leaned back against it. 'I wish we weren't counting on luck so much' he said.

'Personally Mr President, unless the Asgard do manage to send their fleet our way I'm counting on SG-1' Hammond told him earnestly.

For some reason that not even O'Neill himself consciously knew, he wanted them to take the old Tel'tak they had purchased from the Tok'ra some time ago rather than one of the Avengers. This confused Carter as the Avenger used much the same hyperdrive design, and was slightly faster if anything, but as he gathered pieces of equipment for an equally unknown purpose the Colonel had managed to get the message across that they _had_ to take the goa'uld transport ship. Teal'c used the SGC's Aschen Transporter Platform to travel to Area 51 where he picked up the Tel'tak then flew it cloaked to Cheyenne Mountain to pick up the rest of SG-1 and the gear O'Neill had collected.

'Having fun?' Daniel asked Jonas, it was hard to tell since he tended to smile a lot normally.

'Oh yeah' Jonas confirmed, 'I know I'm more use to the cause doing what I do now but I've missed all this adventure and excitement' he replied, watching O'Neill intently as the Colonel started to play with the hyperdrive for some reason.

'After this I may take a break' Andianov announced.

'You?' Daniel queried in surprise.

'I do not get home very often, the idea of a week or two of vacation is appealing to me' the Sergeant told them. 'If Russia is still there when we get back I am going to request some leave' she decided.

'Euge' O'Neill said, finishing whatever he was doing to the hyperdrive.

'That means good' Jonas translated before Daniel could.

'Oh I really hope he knows what he's doing' Carter said with a grimace as O'Neill picked up a P3-A1 and aimed it at the hyperdrive. Instead of firing either a plasma bolt or even the Kull Disrupter fitted to it he instead fired a discharge from the zat'nik'tel built into the housing.

'Our speed has greatly increased' Teal'c announced.

'Well we're on a schedule and we were days away from where the Colonel said we needed to go' Carter replied. 'How much faster are we now?' she asked.

Teal'c checked the navigation computer. 'Far swifter than any goa'uld vessel' he said, 'our speed is closer to that of an Asgard ship, if still slower' he told her.

Jonas raised his eyebrows. 'We do know that the goa'uld originally copied an Ancient hyperdrive to push their ships around' he noted. 'Perhaps the Colonel just bought the performance up to what it should have been to start with?' he suggested.

'There's no way it'll be able to sustain that output for very long' Carter observed. 'Normally a goa'uld hyperdrive would be good for centuries, this will burn out in days I'd think.'

'Inferior build quality' Jonas reasoned.

Carter nodded. 'The Ancient devices we've seen over the years indicate they over-engineered everything and built to last' she said. 'The goa'uld are hacks by comparison.'

'So at this velocity how long is it going to take us to get to Proclarush Taonas?' Daniel queried.

'We will be there very soon Daniel Jackson' Teal'c replied. 'We are travelling like a flying mammal out of Sokar's domain.'

'That's, "we're going like a bat out of hell" Teal'c' Daniel corrected him.

'As you say' Teal'c replied.

Back on, or rather above Earth, the situation was developing fast. Anubis sent a cloaked Al'kesh as a scout ahead of his fleet but it was detected almost immediately by the Ha'tak _Admiral Kuznetsov_. 'We have an uninvited guest that should have remembered this ship originally belonged to Anubis' Colonel Chekov informed Colonel Caldwell his opposite number on _Enterprise_ in amusement. It had been the ability of the upgraded sensors on the ships used by Anubis to detect such vessels which prevented Apophis using his initial monopoly of cloaked Ha'tak effectively.

Chekov let the Al'kesh move in closer before he opened up on the craft with a plasma beam, destroying it with one hit. 'Welcome to the motherworld' he declared with a wry smile as his crew cheered.

Less than fifteen minutes later a much more formidable opponent arrived in the form of one of the latest Anubis Ha'tak motherships also on a reconnaissance mission. According to Tok'ra and Free Jaffa sources they had even more powerful shields than the previous vessels Anubis used, slightly more powerful main guns than their predecessors and additionally they had much more formidable secondary batteries with Plasma-Repeater-Cannon replacing the slow-firing Staff-Cannon mounted previously. It dropped out of hyperspace out beyond the orbit of the moon and accelerated slowly towards Earth, starting to send out active scanning sweeps as it did so.

'They're looking for the cloaked satellite defences' Colonel Ronson on _Prometheus_ realised. 'We need to take that thing out' he decided. 'Full sub-light' he ordered, 'we're going straight at them.'

'Sub-light engines to full' Major DeLouise responded.

'Shields to maximum, charge all energy weapons, spin up the Rippers and prepare a full salvo of Fusions' Ronson told his crew. 'The last time we took on a Ha'tak it took too damn long to bring her down, lets see if hitting her with a sledgehammer first speeds things up' he said as they accelerated towards the goa'uld mothership.

The Jaffa commanding the Ha'tak fired first, opening up with his main guns sending huge bolts of plasma slamming into the shield protecting _Prometheus_. The Tau'ri ship kept coming and the mothership fired a second salvo before the human ship returned fire, retaliating with a weapon the Jaffa had not seen before.

Basically not much more than a greatly scaled-up Blaster Bomb, the guided shoulder-launched micro-nuclear weapons devised by Loki, the Fusion Ball was very fast and more importantly manoeuvrable in the extreme. Like its tiny cousin it could pull a ridiculously tight turn and as the four warheads tore towards the Ha'tak they performed a series of rapid violent jinks intended to avoid point-defence batteries. Two were still taken out by the Plasma-Repeater-Cannon which engaged them but the other pair detonated against the motherships's shield, the remaining elerium which powered them drastically boosted in its explosive power by weapons-grade naquada.

_Prometheus_ began firing its twin rotary plasma cannon just as the warheads hit, each fusion-ball unleashing twelve-hundred megatons of energy as they exploded against the shield. Much of the energy was of course lost to space but what the shield did absorb reduced its strength significantly just as the Rippers started their relentless assault at a single point, weakening them still further. The two Elerium Plasma Beam Cannon placed between the Rippers on the bow of the BC-303 struck next, the shield generator of the Ha'tak straining to compensate.

Six seconds later the plasma beams fired again then at the third time they fired they finally managed to cut through the shield and ate deep into the Ha'tak. The next time after that the now almost unimpeded beams lanced through a vital system and the whole shield almost collapsed as a result, allowing the Rippers to get through now as well wreaking unimaginable destruction on the mothership as they did. The moment the shield failed completely which happened soon afterwards under the punishing onslaught Ronson launched a ripple of Mark VIII naquada-enhanced missiles from the X-303's tubes to finish it off in a titanic explosion before ordering his ship to turn around and return to its previous position, shields recharging as it went. 'I want the next one finished off even quicker' he told his crew, only inwardly satisfied at his ships performance. It didn't pay to ever let them think they couldn't do better as then they'd stop trying he knew.

When they had arrived at what had once been the Ancient Colony of Proclarush Taonas SG-1 had not been happy to find they were likely several million years to late and the star the world orbited had expanded into a Red Giant turning the surface of the planet to molten rock. However the discovery of a remaining structure which had been protected by a shield provided cause for hope, as did the fact that O'Neill started clearing the transporter-rings free of equipment and started putting on one of the Hazmat Suits he had insisted on packing. As pilot Teal'c was to stay on the ship, Jonas however refused to miss out.

The rings on the Tel'tak being just another of the technologies the goa'uld had taken from the Ancients it locked onto a set within the structure and with the Tel'tak hovering above they headed down. Fortunately O'Neill seemed to know what he was doing because he headed straight for an ornate chair up on a platform and sat down upon it. As he did so it seemed to power up, he pressed a control on the hand-rest which caused a forcefield to appear and sweep across the chamber.

O'Neill pulled off his Hazmat helmet, the previously toxic air had apparently been cleared and was being held back by the forcefield. He pressed the controls again and the chair swivelled leaned back in a manner much akin to a dentist's chair as a holographic projection of the Milky Way appeared above his head.

'Looks like every planet the Ancients ever colonised is indicated here' Daniel noted as certain stars were noted on the display. 'This is where we are' he continued, pointing at one of them. 'Proclarush.'

The hologram changed to display a planet spinning on its axis. 'Earth?' Carterqueried, the shapes of the continents were close but not right.

'Before thirty million years of continental drift maybe' Jonas observed, Daniel was slightly annoyed because he'd been about to say that.

'Sir why are you showing us this?' Carter asked O'Neill.

'Jack?' Daniel prompted him.

'Terra Atlantis' O'Neill replied.

'Terra is Earth in Ancient' Daniel; noted, 'Atlantis?' he queried doubtfully.

'The Lost City of _Atlantis_?' Carter asked in obvious surprise.

Daniel pointed to the holographic display, the continents were now drifting across the surface showing how they had moved since the image was first taken. 'Are you saying that the Lost City of the Ancients is here?' he asked, pointing at the area clearly being highlighted as important.

'Antarctica' Carter said.

'Subo glacius' O'Neill told them.

'Under the ice?' Daniel exclaimed. 'The city we've been looking for is under the ice of Antarctica?'

'It's been on Earth the whole time?' Carter asked incredulously.

'Heck of a detour coming way out here to go straight back' Jonas commented. 'Not that I don't like to travel but still' he added.

'Jack, we were just _there_' Daniel felt the need to point out to O'Neill.

O'Neill looked at him as if to say "Oh ye of little faith" and pressing the control on the chair again the hologram vanished, the chair straightened up and O'Neill put the Hazmat Suit helmet back on as did the others. He got off the chair and knelt down at a point on the platform where he removed a cover-plate and then yanked a large complex crystal from where it was inserted into the platform.

'Power source' Carter realised as everything went dark and the forcefield vanished.

'We must need it for the city under the ice of Antarctica' Jonas reasoned as they quickly headed back towards the rings.

Sending his forces in dribs and drabs clearly was clearly just serving them up to the Tau'ri for lunch Anubis reasoned so the next time hostile ships jumped out of hyperspace above Earth it was his entire force of Ha'tak and Al'kesh with his new flagship standing off watching the fray.

Knowing it would take time for the motherships to launch their deathgliders, even if they began to scramble them the moment they arrived, it had been decided that the full force of F-302X fighters available to Earth would be already launched and waiting to have a go at the big ships first. As soon as the enemy appeared five wings of Grim Reapers, each with six squadrons of eight fighters descended upon the closest motherships, firing the plasma beam cannon they carried in addition to their lasers, a full wing of Reapers being assigned to attack a single Ha'tak at once, they inflicted the death of a thousand cuts. The F-302's destroyed one mothership outright and badly damaged three more before they found themselves in a sea of deathgliders and had to start dealing with them instead, dogfighting amongst the capital ships.

All forty ZapSats simultaneously decloaked and started firing at the invaders, concentrating their fire on a handful of the motherships seeking to overwhelm their shields. In principle nothing much more than a laser rifle scaled up to the point where you could just cram it through a stargate for deployment the naquada-generator powered ZapSats lacked the technical sophistication of back-engineered sectoid weaponry but they compensated with plenty of raw wattage. Several unfortunate deathgliders which found themselves between the ZapSats and their intended targets were vaporised in a instant, their retrofitted Tel'tak shields hopelessly inadequate to resist that kind of firepower as the lasers played over the invader capital ships, bleeding off precious shield strength. The motherships returned fire but the automated ZapSats were both shielded and kept moving, increasing their life expectancy in combat.

_Enterprise_ and _Kuznetsov_ had wargamed this scenario many times. Their best course of action wasn't to try and take on a large chunk of the enemy fleet each, if they wanted to take out motherships fast they needed to concentrate their main guns on one target and then shift to another. Firing both their primary armament, goa'uld capital ship guns like those of the enemy, plus their elerium plasma beam cannon, the two Ha'tak that bore Earth insignia chose a single unfortunate mothership and collectively pounded it to scrap before moving onto the next.

If the attention of the lasers had been unwelcome the activation and firing of the AG-3X satellite weapons was a much more horrible experience. As expected the volatile nature of the liquid-naquadria meant that one of the weapons did detonate as it merely tried to charge for the first shot but the other four worked like a charm, one-shotting a mothership apiece, the beams cutting through capital ship shields with ease and coring the vessels inside before starting to re-charge. Two more exploded whilst trying to fire again, and one of the two that did fire a second blast successfully went critical shortly afterwards but the final satellite managed to take out a third Ha'tak all by itself before return-fire destroyed it. Anubis was only glad he hadn't waited any longer to attack Earth, a few more of the things would have carved up his whole fleet.

Already nervous of the AG-3X Anubis had also been warned by Loki not to underestimate the power of the elerium weapons even the Tau'ri fighters carried, but now the slightly larger human craft which Loki's agent said were called "Avengers" were proving even more of a pain in the mikta if anything. Outfitted for use against larger craft than themselves they carried a single Rotary-Plasma-Cannon, or "Ripper" in their cargo hold, with the uppermost cannon in the cycle just clearing the top of the fuselage for firing ahead as it span. Getting on the tail of an Al'kesh they would hammer down its shield then tear it apart with a long burst of fire before looking for another victim. They even strafed his Ha'tak, picking out the ones already being fired upon by the laser satellites for maximum effect whilst their fighter support kept the deathgliders away.

The two BC-303's _Prometheus_ and _Atlas_ were proving to have the most deadly armament of any ship in the battle, the combination of dual Rippers and Beams against a shield already nicely depleted by either their own fusion-ball launchers or the attentions of other weapons was simply the finger of death, point it at the enemy and wait for them to fall. The sheer chaos of the battle was helping them out considerably, goa'uld fleet command and control was sloppy so it was taking time for the superior numbers of enemy capital ships to be bought to bear effectively but it had been obvious from the start that eventually Anubis would win and as _Enterprise_ started to go down the end was obviously near. All but a handful of the ZapSats had been destroyed by return fire and they were only effective in quantity alas.

SG-1 arrived back an Earth just as Colonel Caldwell ordered his crew to abandon ship and they began using rings and teleporters to try and get back to Earth. _Enterprise_ was breaking up, the _Admiral Kuznetsov_ wouldn't last much longer either and the shields of the two BC-303's were dropping fast. Although still greatly inferior to the F-302 thanks to their upgrades the new model deathgliders weren't inferior enough for their preponderance in numbers not to weigh heavily in the battle and the Grim Reapers and Avengers were being overwhelmed. As the single Tel'tak appeared, dropping out of hyperspace at the edge of the atmosphere before heading towards Antarctica, it sent a transmission to the effect that they had found something and they hoped it might stop the enemy fleet. It would have cloaked but it needed its shield instead because this was _not_ the recommended way to approach a planet with more than a wisp of atmosphere, in fact the Tel'tak with SG-1 aboard looked more like a meteor on its way to becoming a crater than a craft under a controlled descent.

Their arrival was not missed by Anubis. At the controls of the flagship his loyal First Prime Herak turned and informed his master of the arrival of the ship and its destination and Anubis ordered part of his fleet to detach from the battle and head for a position above the planets southern pole.

The pressure lifted slightly off the three remaining Earth Capital ships as a number of Ha'tak moved away. The explosion of the AG-3X satellites earlier would have already caused enough EMP to cause major damage to communications down on Earth so Colonel Ronson decided to go all-in and rippled off every Mark VIII _Prometheus_ was carrying, _Atlas_ joining in soon afterwards. Ha'tak Point-defence weapons took out most of them but several still exploded against mothership shields depleting them enough to make Anubis order them to pull back out of the fight, he couldn't afford to lose too many more ships in this battle, Baal and his allies would bounce back and finish him off in a matter of weeks.

O'Neill seemed to know where he was going and took over the controls of the Tel'tak from Teal'c as they sped over the Antarctic wasteland. 'Oh wow, look at that' Jonas exclaimed, pointing out of the cockpit window off into the distance as a huge bolt of energy seemed to appear just below the horizon and hurtle skywards.

'That's the X-COM base down here' Carter told him, 'Tollan Heavy Ion Cannon opening up, we must have Goa'uld motherships directly above' she reasoned.

'It's firing again' Jonas said, watching a second bolt heading up.

'The little ones had a higher rate of fire' Daniel observed.

'Yeah but they won't do to an Anubis Mothership what those will' Carter replied, grinning.

The first blast from the Heavy Ion Cannon hit a Ha'tak with a shield that was already weakened by fire from the Tau'ri vessels, it was recharging but was still at less than sixty percent strength when it was struck by enough force to bring it down from a full charge in one blow. The shield collapsed, the generator that powered it overloaded and exploded in protest and part of the central pyramid blew outwards. The ship began to tumble, spewing atmosphere, debris and quite a few Jaffa into space, it was a sitting duck for the follow-up shot which blew it apart.

O'Neill had been doing something to the transporter-rings on the journey back from the planet and as he settled the Tel'tak down into a hover above a specific point a cutting beam he had modified from the rings began to bore into the ice. Jonas theorised that the Ancient facility would also have rings so they could get down there but first they needed to clear a miles thickness of ice out of the way.

Another Ha'tak appeared from hyperspace high above Antartica, it began to launch fighters but these were not deathgliders, they were something far more deadly and they began heading towards the ground. Anubis had summoned his ally, Loki had come and he had bought his most advanced creations, both mechanical and biological.

Since Anubis seemed hell-bent on stopping SG-1 doing whatever it was they were doing, even at the expense of pulling ships off the firing line, it seemed pretty obvious to all concerned on the human side that they needed to make sure that SG-1 _did_ manage to do whatever they were doing. Avengers and F-302's were already burning hard towards the goa'uld ships positioning themselves over the south pole when Loki arrived and seeing the new aliens fighters descending towards Earth the Grim Reapers hit their afterburners and gave chase leaving the handful of Avengers to try and divert some of the enemy attention their way.

Stories about what Loki's new fighters were capable of had been spreading ever since he started to unleash greater and greater numbers of them on Baal. They were quite simply in a class of their own in terms of shielding, sensors, avionics and acceleration and he had put creatures at the controls who were better than any human pilot could ever be. Genetically engineered and enhanced with cybernetics that interfaced them directly with their aircraft they had been named Aereons and you could not out-fly them, they were literally made to be the perfect fighter-pilots.

Loki's latest Type 4 Fighter was known to X-COM as the "Shade". Unlike his previous air-superiority and interceptor craft it was not remotely saucer shaped and in fact was more akin to a machine that might have come from a manufacturing line on Earth in looks. That might have been a complement of sorts to the people that created the F-302 which had taken on the earlier Type 1 and 2 craft and won but even the latest model F-302X had yet to even catch up with the Type 3 and the Shade was another generation beyond that.

According to the analysts Grim Reapers taking on Shades required _at least_ a two to one superiority in numbers to win, Colonel Cameron Mitchell was leading in thirty-four F-302's against forty-five Type 4's and with another five older Type 3's flying in support. On the plus side he hadn't really expected to live to the end of the day anyway.

The Tel'tak was still drilling through the ice when a massive dog-fight began over Antarctica, once it began Mitchell soon learned that the stories of Loki creating new more powerful telepathic aliens were also true because his pilots starting to be subjected to vicious psionic attack that had even those with known psionic strengths in the nineties suffering from waves of fear. 'Try to take out the saucers' Mitchell ordered when one of the other pilots noticed that Type 3's weren't being flown nearly as well as the Type 4's. Maybe the telepaths were in the older craft but even if they weren't the things were easier targets and if he could take them down first it would even up the numbers.

The Shades also had shields that could work in an atmosphere proving they were something special indeed given that Loki's earlier fighters weren't so lucky. They weren't as strong as they would be in space but they could still soak up enough hits that even if you got one in your sights a couple of bursts wouldn't finish it off and that was bad news considering it was so damn difficult to get one in your sights to start with, the Aereons flew their fighters like the Red Baron on speed.

The beam the Tel'tak was generating to cut through the ice stopped and O'Neill unhooked the additions he had made to the transporter rings. 'Teal'c as soon as we're down get out of here' Carter told the Jaffa. 'Head for the X-COM base as fast as you can and make sure you've got the IFF transponder working because they'll shoot you down otherwise' she advised.

'I will see you again once the battle is over and our victory is complete' Teal'c replied confidently as the rest of SG-1 moved inside the rings which then activated.

'This looks vaguely familiar' Carter quipped as they found themselves in a facility almost identical to the one they had been to on Proclarush.

O'Neill approached what appeared to be a large glass-fronted box in the middle of the chamber. 'Dormata' he said, touching it.

'Sleep' Daniel translated, getting their before Jonas this time.

A sound caught all their attentions and they turned to find Anubis stood before them. 'You are too late. The power of the Ancients is mine' he declared.

O'Neill walked up to him and then right through him. 'Fools' the hologram of Anubis responded as it disappeared.

Approaching an identical chair to the one they had found in the other Ancient base, O'Neill removed the plate that covered the power crystal and removing the presumably depleted one from there he installed the replacement one they had bought before taking his place in the chair.

The sound of the rings activating again took the attention of the rest of SG-1 off O'Neill and they turned to see a pair of Kull Warriors arriving which they quickly cut down with Heavy-Plasma and Kull Disrupter fire before taking up position to deal with the inevitable next wave.

'Take your time Colonel, we've got this' Andianov said loudly, smiling as the rings activated again.

The ground started to rumble and part of the floor fell away before a storm of small oddly-shaped missiles, glowing and almost organic in appearance surged out from what must have been another chamber underneath and after destroying a third wave of Kull just arrived they headed upwards like a torrent via the hole cut in the ice.

Cameron Mitchell had already ditched his F-302 after getting most of the back of it shot-off by a Phase-Cannon but as he lay there in the wreckage of his fighter he watched a light display tear Loki's fighters to pieces. 'Sweet' he thought before losing consciousness.

The Ancient weapons were either under direct control or else they were very smart because the column of them now heading for space jinked to one side to avoid getting hit by another bolt from the Heavy Ion Cannon before they started to rip the remaining ships belonging to Anubis apart, going straight through shields like they weren't even there.

Loki was in a higher orbit and had the good sense to run like hell at the first sign of some kind of weapon he'd never seen before but Anubis and his mothership were shredded by thousands of Ancient Drones and along with the rest of his fleet it was wreckage by the time the things stopped.

O'Neill got up off the chair and headed for the glass-fronted box. 'Dormata' he said again, opening the front and getting into it.'

'Stasis tube' Jonas realised. 'He's putting himself on ice until we can get the knowledge out of his head.'

'Will he be alright?' Carter asked nervously.

'Personally I'm having positive thoughts on the reliability of Ancient technology at the moment' Daniel replied. 'Well he saved the world again so do you think we could get a Congressional Medal of Honour made into a fridge magnet we could stick on this thing?' he asked.

* * *

_**Note from the Author**_:

_The Deep Underground Excavation Vehicle (DUEV) was featured in episode 7:14 Fallout where it was used to save Langara from destruction by a runaway conversion process of naquada to naquadria. In the show the Kelownan scientist Kianna Cyr was a goa'uld host, here she's human and now the assistant to McKay who is helping out Jonas instead of Carter. __It says in episode 4:17 Absolute Power that the "heavy liquid naquadah" powered AG-3 utilised "sub-atomic energy particles". Sokar used a sub-atomic particle beam to attack the SGC Iris in episode 2:17 Serpents Song and Carter built one to rescue O'Neill from Edora in episode 3:17 A Hundred Days where lava had set directly over the event horizon._

_We see both Anubis and Baal project holograms through the gate using Asgard technology in the show. We also see them projected through the shield of an Anubis Ha'tak in episode 5:22 Revelations. __Osiris was on Earth spying for Anubis in episode 7:15 Chimera. Here she's working for Loki instead and has continued her infilitration of the rogue NID faction (seen in episode 7:19 Resurrection). Knowledge of the imminent AG-3X strike leaked out and Osiris warned Loki. __Henry Hayes has just been elected (with Robert Kinsey as VP) but he hasn't yet entered the Whitehouse, his inauguration happens in January._

___Episode 7:21 Lost City starting to play out roughly as canon with O'Neill once again getting the contents of an Ancient Repository of Knowledge downloaded into his head. The prototype Kull Disrupter was seen in episode 7:16 Death Knell, by the end of Season 7 it was a unit that could simply clip to a P90. __Janet was dead by this point in canon Stargate, she was killed in episode 7:18 Heroes. Perhaps her fate here is worse (hee hee) but having the sarcophagus reverse Sharp's vasectomy was pretty funny I thought. It's mentioned he'd had one back in chapter 45 and it's the reason he was in the sarcophagus too long in chapter 51._

_Atlas is the second BC-303, a true sister-ship (or brother-ship) to Prometheus. It's under the command of Colonel Pendergast who in canon took over from Colonel Ronson as commander of the Prometheus. __Proclarush means "Lost in Fire" in Ancient. Taonas was an old colony of theirs that was abandoned and still conveniently had a ZPM that was needed to fire up the old Ancient Weapons Platform in Antarctica. Ancient systems rely on a Control Chair to work, you need the ATA gene to make it function though. __With all the additional hardware they've built up Earth is much better able to fight a full-scale goa'uld invasion than they were in canon but they're still in no position to take on dozens of Ha'tak at once. Lets just say O'Neill didn't have to fire off anywhere near as many Ancient Drones as he did in episode 7:22 Lost City here!_

_Just a couple of more things to say. Firstly it's been 52 chapters and well over 330,000 words (the equivalent of a trilogy of novels) so if you're one of the overwhelming majority of readers who've read this far and never bothered to leave so much as a single review this might be the time don't you think? It would be appreciated you know, I'll assume if you bothered to read this far you can't hate it._ ;-)

_Secondly if you're ever of a mind to re-read this story do yourself a favour and read the version on Twisting the Hellmouth instead, it's a nicer lay-out and the author's notes have hyperlinked references. There's a link to the TtH version on my profile here._

_The Story continues in **XSGCOM: Terra from the Deep**._


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